Still Waiting?

A Sermon from December 2022

Readings: Galatians 4.4-7 Luke 2.15-21

Are you patient? I easily get agitated and start tut-tutting. Pacing up and down. Muttering, “this is ridiculous!” When the computer’s on a go-slow. When traffic lights stay red for-e-ver. In queues. Waiting in shops while my wife takes ages looking at clothes.

Not all waiting is annoying. But we live in an instant world. Information’s at our fingertips in fractions of seconds thanks to the Internet. Amazon Prime makes next day delivery normal and expected. Credit cards mean you can buy things you can’t afford - NOW! How did people manage in the distant past (by which I mean the 1980s)? Waiting was just what you did. 

In the Bible, God makes people wait. We’ve just started Advent Season, waiting for Christ to be born. But a month of liturgical waiting for us, was at least 4000 years of actual waiting for humanity. Advent is also waiting for the Second Coming. This is almost 2000 years and counting.

1) The Waiting Is Over (Sort of)

The church year is a funny old thing. We await something which has, in reality, already happened. We anticipate Christ’s birth, but Advent reminds us that His birth isn’t the beginning of His story. We treat birth as day one of a new existence. However, before we get out of the womb, we have to get in and spend nine months there. Each person has a pre-birth, pre-conception history. Our parents met one another rather than someone else. And their parents, and so on. If any combination of ancestors met a different person, or even if a different sperm got to the egg first, we wouldn’t be as we are today. The DNA of different individuals combined to eventually make us as we actually are. This is also true of Jesus. Humanly speaking. On His mother’s side. 

Mary had to wait for her nine months of pregnancy to end. Maybe nine months seems like a long time to those of you who’ve had children. But it’s a short wait compared to the waiting of Israel and of humanity.

700 years before Mary, Isaiah prophesied this. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, NIV). Also, “A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, “Wonderful Counsellor,” “Mighty God,” “Eternal Father,” “Prince of Peace.” His royal power will continue to grow; his kingdom will always be at peace. He will rule as King David's successor, basing his power on right and justice, from now until the end of time” (Isaiah 9:6-7). 700 years for this to start happening - a long wait.

Isaiah mentioned this son will rule as King David's successor. God told David about this. “When you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will make one of your sons king and will keep his kingdom strong. He will be the one to build a temple for me, and I will make sure that his dynasty continues forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-13). Seemingly fulfilled in Solomon, fully fulfilled in Jesus. The Temple Jesus built is us, the church, the living stones, which cannot be destroyed. David lived 1000 years before Christ - another long wait.

In Deuteronomy 18:15 Moses told the Israelites, “he [God] will send you a prophet like me from among your own people, and you are to obey him.” In Acts 3, Peter confirms this is Jesus, even though it seemed like the Israelites Moses addressed would be the ones to meet him. Prophecy can be a bit funny like that. No immediate coming - the Israelites had to wait 1400 years.

Just one more. God told the serpent in Eden, “I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel” (Genesis 3:15). We see this fulfilled specifically in the cross. The author of Hebrews wrote, “Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death” (Hebrews 2:14). The coming of Christ as a human destroys the serpent, the Devil.

It took at least 4000 years for the crucifixion to happen. God is patient - and willing

to make humanity wait.

2) The Coming of Christ

Paul wrote to the Galatians, “But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law” (4:4) It was no accident that Jesus was born when He was. God didn’t think, “I’ve made ‘em wait long enough. This Mary chick is a nice girl. She’ll do.” No. He manoeuvred history to get the circumstances just right. But what if He hadn’t and Christ never came? What might we all be worshipping in the UK now?  Probably different gods for different occasions. Maybe ancient British or Celtic gods, or Roman or Greek or Saxon or Norse gods? Plenty of those. Many are just variations on the themes of war, harvest, earth, and water. Or maybe we’d directly worship the sun, moon, stars, trees, animals? 

Many people think the story of Jesus’ birth is fanciful nonsense. What about the birth stories of some Roman gods and goddesses? Exhibit 1: The Roman god Saturn devoured his children by his wife Ops as soon as they were born because of a prophecy that one would overthrow him. After chomping through 5 children, Ops hid the child Jupiter and offered Saturn a large stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead, which so upset his stomach he was forced to vomit out all the other children. Exhibit 2: Venus, born of the seafoam. Saturn castrated his father and threw his bits into the sea. As they drifted over the water, the blood mixed with it to foment the growth of Venus. Exhibit 3: Bacchus, who was born twice. The first time fathered by Jupiter, who assumed the form of a snake, slithered into the underworld and got one Proserpina pregnant. Later on, Bacchus was killed, his body torn to pieces. Jupiter gathered the pieces up, placed Bacchus’ heart into a potion which was drunk by Semele, a mortal, who became pregnant. She was murdered, so Jupiter ripped the baby from the womb and sowed him into his own thigh to nourish him until he was born.

Contrast these strange stories with the birth of Jesus, which we’ll be revisiting again in the coming weeks - the difference is immediately obvious. Yes, there are angels, a virgin birth, a wandering star, but the birth of Christ still comes across as a very human story. The Bible accounts are supernatural, not unnatural and silly. We’re privileged this is our story and God hasn’t given us over to depraved gods and practices.

3) The Wait Goes On

God sent His Son. What does this mean for those who believe in Him? He adopts us as His children and heirs. The Holy Spirit is in our hearts. 

God chose us. God is our Father because He wants to be. It pleases Him. We’re God’s children now, but the wait goes on for the second coming of Christ - and what a time that will be! As Paul wrote, “This is how it will be when the dead are raised to life. When the body is buried, it is mortal; when raised, it will be immortal. When buried, it is ugly and weak; when raised, it will be beautiful and strong. When buried, it is a physical body; when raised, it will be a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). As John wrote, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:1).

The Holy Spirit lives within Christians, the guarantee of our inheritance, a deposit of what is to come. Our inheritance is to share in the glory of Jesus. It’s knowing God. It’s eternal life. The wait goes on for the fulness of this promise. 

God has “blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” It “can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:4-5, NIV). Moth and rust cannot destroy it. Thieves cannot break in and steal it. But the wait goes on. God kept mankind waiting at least 4000 years for the first coming of Christ. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that we’ve waited almost 2000 for the Second Coming. He’ll come when the time is right. God will keep His promise as He did before. 

CONCLUSION

We’re all waiting for things. Some are waiting for a husband or wife; some are waiting for a diagnosis from the hospital; some are waiting for visas to stay in the UK; some are ill, old, tired or depressed, and are waiting to die; some are waiting for the evil regimes in their homelands to be overthrown; some are waiting for the persecution to end; some are waiting for Christmas day, anxious to see what presents they will get. Most of these things we have little or no control over. These can be scary, horrible waits. And the outcomes are uncertain. But we all wait for Christ to return. We have no control over when this will happen. But through faith we are certain that it will. And we anticipate the day when we no longer sing, “O come, O come, Immanuel” because the kingdoms of the earth will have become the kingdoms of our God.

Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/portrait-woman-watch-watching-tv-5907490/

First of All, Then, Pray

Readings

Psalm 113

1 Timothy 2.1-7

In our New Testament reading, Paul writes to Timothy, his “true son in the faith”. They previously travelled together proclaiming the gospel. He now urges Timothy to stay in Ephesus and deal with some church problems. Acts 19 and 20 tell of the remarkable time they previously had in Ephesus. Paul spent three months debating in the synagogue trying to convince people about the Kingdom of God. He took those who believed and held daily discussions for two whole years in a lecture hall. A great number of people heard the word of the Lord here. God performed miracles through Paul. Such was the spirit of repentance that many who practised magic gathered to burn their magic books in public. The word of God spread. 

Then Paul sent Timothy to Macedonia and Timothy missed the riot. Ephesus hosted the temple of the goddess Artemis. Paul preached that handmade gods are not gods. Those who sold silver models of the temple lost trade. Artemis lost followers. A crowd was stirred up and spread uproar through the city. For two solid hours they repeatedly shouted “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 

Paul left to rejoin Timothy and spent time ministering in other places until returning to Ephesus for a final meeting with the church leaders. Paul’s farewell speech was emotional. He believed he’d never see them again. Amongst other things he said: “I know that after I leave, fierce wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. The time will come when some men from your own group will tell lies to lead the believers away after them.” (Acts 20:29-30) 

Fast Forward ten years. Paul writes this letter to Timothy, now in Ephesus looking after the church. Paul’s warning about “fierce wolves” has already come true. Timothy, Paul’s true son in the faith, must now confront the false sons who departed from the faith. Paul tells Timothy: “Some people there are teaching false doctrines, and you must order them to stop.” (1 Timothy 1:3b) They’ve abandoned the gospel in favour of what Paul calls legends, list of ancestors, foolish discussions. He mentions by name Hymenaeus and Alexander, who haven’t listened to their conscience and ruined their faith, becoming blasphemers. He writes: “The Spirit says clearly that some people will abandon the faith in later times; they will obey lying spirits and follow the teachings of demons. Such teachings are spread by deceitful liars, whose consciences are dead, as if burnt with a hot iron.” (1 Timothy 4:1-2) Having given instructions to Timothy for the church, he writes: “Whoever teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the true words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching of our religion is swollen with pride and knows nothing. He has an unhealthy desire to argue and quarrel about words, and this brings on jealousy, disputes, insults, evil suspicions, and constant arguments from people whose minds do not function and who no longer have the truth. They think that religion is a way to become rich” (1 Timothy 6:3-5) Paul is never one to mince his words. He also writes, “For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

False teachers haven’t gone away. They are still with us today. Unlike Paul, I’m not going to name names, but here are some ways to spot them. They seek to please people instead of God. They make themselves out to be the good guys, attacking and condemning Christians who uphold the Bible. They put their own ideas above God’s teachings, contradicting or misquoting the Bible to promote their own agenda. They take side issues and make them more important than the good news about Jesus. They often seek to enrich themselves at the expense of their followers. They love to control and abuse people. The foundation of all false teaching can be summarised: “Did God really say?”

Timothy has the daunting task of sorting out the mess created by such people and keeping the church together and functioning well. The sinfulness of false teaching tore apart a seemingly vibrant group of believers within ten short years. It cannot be underestimated how toxic it is. We must not entertain those who proclaim a different gospel. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. “For there is one God, and there is one who brings God and human beings together, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5) “No one can deny how great is the secret of our religion: He appeared in human form, was shown to be right by the Spirit, and was seen by angels. He was preached among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, and was taken up to heaven.” (1 Timothy 3:16) Faith in this Jesus saves. Paul wants everyone to hear this truth and says that God wants that too. 

What has driven Paul to want this? In the past Paul hated Jesus, Paul spoke evil of Jesus, Paul persecuted Jesus by persecuting the church and spoke insulting things about Him. Then Jesus met him, and graciously gave him faith and love. Paul truly believed he was the worst sinner ever. If God could save him, He could save anybody! 

Timothy’s task was to rebuild a church broken by false teachers. How? Our reading begins “first of all, then”. It refers to what Paul has already written, which can be summarised as “order false teachers to stop, I used to be a false teacher, God saved me by His grace”. The first thing to do is pray. See the need, understand God’s desire, approach God. I fully expected Paul to say “pray for the false teachers”. But he goes further. Pray for all people. Pray for kings and all in authority. 

What does he want to achieve? “That we may live a quiet and peaceful life with all reverence toward God and with proper conduct.” (1 Timothy 2:2) Why would this be a good thing? “This is good and it pleases God our Saviour, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to know the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4) How can this happen? By proclaiming the message of faith and truth. 

Praying for kings and those in authority makes sense. If they favour the church, we can live peaceful and quiet lives, reverencing God without fear of persecution, freely and openly proclaiming the gospel. Praying for false teachers makes sense. If they accept the truth, we won’t need to spend time confronting their errors and warning each other about them. We can focus on uplifting things, like truth, unity and living in harmony in Christ. Praying for all people makes sense. If everyone followed Christ, crime, hate, immorality, persecution would end, or at least be much reduced. Well, that’s the theory. 

The Church of England responds to this in the following prayers:

O GOD, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed: Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

O LORD, our heavenly Father, high and mighty, King of kings, Lord of lords, the only Ruler of princes, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth: Most heartily we beseech thee with thy favour to behold our most gracious Sovereign Lord, King Charles; and so replenish him with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that he may alway incline to thy will, and walk in thy way. Endue him plenteously with heavenly gifts; grant him in health and wealth long to live; strengthen him that he may vanquish and overcome all his enemies; and finally after this life he may attain everlasting joy and felicity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We could pray these in our own personal prayer times, or simpler, less wordy, prayers, like “Lord, defend us from our enemies. Lord, enable us to live in peace. Lord, may the rulers of our nation turn to You, and find favour and blessing in Your sight.”

The rulers, politicians and government officials of Paul’s day were not the kindest, most humble people. The Roman Emperor was Nero. Yet Paul says pray for their salvation. Whatever we think of our leaders at national or local level, we should do the same. They’re people who need Jesus. 

As the UK has turned its back on God, the response to every problem is “the Government must do something!” People treat the Government as a god. We know better. We appeal to the one, true God, who is “high and mighty, King of kings, Lord of lords, the only Ruler of princes, who dost from his throne behold all the dwellers upon earth”. 

Psalm 146 (3-5) instructs: “Don't put your trust in human leaders; no human being can save you. When they die, they return to the dust; on that day all their plans come to an end. Happy are those who have the God of Jacob to help them and who depend on the Lord their God.”

While we are meant to honour earthly rulers, we are meant to trust in one who is greater, the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 113 (4-8), which we read earlier, informs us: “The Lord rules over all nations; his glory is above the heavens. There is no one like the Lord our God. He lives in the heights above, but he bends down to see the heavens and the earth. He raises the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from their misery and makes them companions of princes, the princes of his people.”

First of all, then, pray. We cannot stop false teachers; we cannot stop rulers; we cannot stop anyone doing what they want. God gave people free will and that free will became corrupted. Given the choice between doing what God wants and doing what we want, humanity inclines to do what it wants, whether God is happy with it or not. But God cannot be mocked. We reap what we sow, and either way God will be glorified. Christians can and should speak gospel truth, but God must arrange things so people will listen, change and follow Him. He will show mercy to whom He will show mercy and have compassion on whom He will have compassion. We appeal to Him with prayers because Jesus came to set the captives truly free to love God through faith in Him. 

(Preached in August 2022)