MCC Podcasts
Advent Adventure - Waiting
sort of getting there. Well we and our family are totally ready for Christmas. We we we braved us to Noma County's finest yesterday. We drove up to cut our own tree down. I don't know if you've done that in a while but you should. You drive these little farms and you chop down a tree and you get a tree for double what you get at Target and it doesn't look as good. It's awesome. But it's a family experience and we're all together and we're taking pictures and it's a lot of fun. So we finally got our tree up. We have firewood for our fire. We went to Trader Joe's and have the little advent calendars there. You know those things you open them up. Get some chocolate. And tonight we have our advent event and Christmas parties and it is just it is Christmas time at our house and and my kids know it too and I and I don't know if you have little kids or if you've been around little kids they know what the purpose of Christmas is. This whole baby Jesus thing will advent. No. It's about what present they are going to get. And the deal is I'm the pastor. I'm the pastor of children and students. So it's like if my kids don't play ball here like what I'm like this is people are judging me. You know if I can't get my kids to know the true meaning of Christmas then you know there's no hope for you guys. So I am on it. I'm on my kids. We play little games. We like go all right. So why do we love Christmas so much? And they go oh and they go oh Jesus birthday. All right. And then we like bribing with stuff and we'll play games like let's come up with ten facts that you know about Christmas and they will see you know testament will quiz them. And I thought you know for the first couple weeks here we're doing really good. I mean I'm like in my kids grill every day all day. You know they wake up in the morning they're having a little advent chocolate and no it's not chocolate before breakfast. We are preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ and I can't without eating it. So I'm doing I'm working overtime because I don't want you to judge me if you ever get ahold of my kids but last night we were all dry. My family and Mary she and we were off doing something and we're somehow we got a conversation of what we're really looking forward to about Christmas and Mary shares like this thing like about what God is doing in her heart. I mean it was awesome. And my kids go oh we're sharing what we're doing for Christmas. My son steps in well I would like a Hogwarts Lego set for $79.99 blah blah blah. And then my daughter goes and I want water guns and can I what is up with water guns. We don't know but there they are they had this opportunity there's this moment we're talking about God showing up and my kids go oh we're talking about Christmas here's what I want. Saturday morning cartoons hosin our family. We are like we are it's no go at our house. So if you ask my kids what's up with Christmas they know it is about presents and it really is right. We are gearing up we are buying stuff and we're everything we're doing is pointing towards Christmas morning where we're gonna open presents. And the bummer is after about 30 minutes after Christmas we're done. The presents are over the kids aren't even that happy with their toy or the one toy they really liked was five minutes old down right. The event is over and then they're all waiting for the next thing and I can already see this thing happening in my kids and I've seen it live down my own life word. Okay Christmas we're all gearing up a whole month Advent Advent Christmas Christmas we have it and then it's like oh but it's someone's birthday coming up next and then we said we turn our attention towards that event. Something's coming something's coming oh we get to Christmas. I mean to that person's birthday oh and then school is gonna be out pretty soon. So if we can just get to the end of school it'll be summer and then summer shows up. But then you know what happened through summer everyone's all bored all the time. You notice this? Oh we just want to get back to school not for school but for our friends. We go back to school and then it's like the next thing off like once I get to middle school then my life will be complete. Oh no once I get to high school no once I get to college once I get a job once I get married once I have a kid once my kids move out once I retire once I die at some point it's all over right but I can already see when my little kids that they're building this this rhythm where they gear up they get all excited to prepare for this event but then the event's over and then what? And what I think what happens is we begin to train our kids at least I've experienced this in my own life that we gear up and we prepare for events and then when events come and go we end up getting disillusioned or disappointed. If I didn't get the gift or that gift wasn't satisfying or whatever the summer wasn't as great as I thought it was gonna be then we get bummed out and what we're gonna look at this morning is this idea that we want to wait advent is the season of waiting we're preparing we're longing for the coming of price we're waiting for Christmas but if we don't wait in the right way if we aren't preparing in the right way I think we're gonna be disappointed and we're gonna be disillusioned because after so many times of waiting and having that thing show up and having it not change our lives dramatically it gets sad and so we want to wait in the right way we want to figure this out and so this morning we're gonna take a look at a passage and as you know we're going through this adventure theme you can tell by our very Christmassy slide it's Indiana Jones which kind of says Christmas all over it and and we're going through what are we going through Exodus with excuse me which is very Christmassy as well and so this morning we are going to read one of my favorite advent passages out of the book of Exodus and we're gonna see if somehow we can get from from there to Christmas so let me pray for us and you can pray for me and we'll see if we can get there let's pray Heavenly Father and gracious guy thank you so much so much for the gift to be together with friends and with family I thank you that in the midst of all the hustle and bustle and chaos and family drama and all the things that are distracting us God that we get to come and have a moment to recognize that all those things are not about us that our story is actually about your story and God we pray that your Holy Spirit would soften our hearts that we would hear from you this morning that you would tweak us in some sort of way and you continue to mold us in the shape us into the image of your son Jesus it's in his name that we pray amen all right so if you have a Bible turn to Exodus chapter six so if we want to wait and we want to wait appropriately we need to realize that we wait that the biblical way of waiting is not waiting for punctuated events right the biblical idea when God says I'm gonna do this thing and then we just wait for God do that thing it's always they're markers but we're never really waiting for this one event for it all to be over over and and we're gonna see in Exodus you'll be surprised how we get there how God uses Moses and this one punctuated event just to tell the story of God so here we are Exodus chapter six verse 28 and it says this so now in the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt he said to them I am the Lord tell Pharaoh King of Egypt everything that I tell you but Moses said to the Lord since I speak with faltering lips why would Pharaoh listen to me then the Lord said to Moses see I have made you like God to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron will be your prophet you are to say everything I command you and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of the country but I will harden Pharaoh's heart and though I multiply my signs in wonder in Egypt he will not listen to you then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with a mighty act of judgment I will bring out my divisions my people the Israelites and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it Moses and Aaron did just the Lord commanded them Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh merry Christmas all right you see my challenge well so the deal is we don't wait for these punctuated events that actually true biblical waiting is this idea that we live more fully into the kingdom of God because what we see in this passage of Moses is Moses about to deliver the people out of out of Egypt this idea they've been waiting for a long long time for 400 years the people of Israel have been slaves in Egypt and they've been waiting to be delivered to go into this promised land Moses is 80 years old he's been waiting 80 years for God to show up and deliver the people out of Israel and there's been all these dramatic stories that we've been looking back looking at over our series and now this is the moment this is like the speech right before the moment when they're gonna go and be delivered I'm not a few of you remember that movie Braveheart but it was Mel Gibson he had blue on his face and kilts and skirts and high lots of thigh and I wanted to show this clip but you couldn't because there was all this bad language and I want to keep my job for at least through Christmas and but the deal is he's on this horse and they're getting ready that for some battle and right all these guys are lined up with kilts and blue on their face and I cry and Mel Gibson's on his on his horse and he's running around and he's like a short you know Mel Gibson's short but he's short so they have like a special horse for him so he doesn't look short and he's riding up and down going with bad words and freedom somewhere in there and and they're screaming because what they're doing they're firing up their army because at some point they're gonna go and run and kill everybody right and they're getting them all fired this is the moment they've been waiting for and they're gonna go do it and if you're not really an action film person you're more of a sports movie guy there's that movie a while ago with Miracle or any other sports thing at halftime the coach comes in like all right here's the deal I don't pay attention to whatever happens this is more the emotion of it so that's what I'm trying to convey with it but you know what happens they just they give you all the stuff and then everyone goes yeah we're gonna do it and then they go out and they win the game and that's what the movies the ones that they lose they don't make movies about those guys well that's what's happening right here the Israelites are finally gonna be delivered they've been waiting they've been longing they've been waiting for a deliver and finally Moses and Aaron are gonna do it they're 80 and 83 and Moses is like okay this is it this moment I'm gonna come in I'm gonna harden Pharaoh's heart and I'm gonna lay my hand on judge and judge them and the whole world will know that I am God and you are my people and you will be delivered it's this awesome awesome story and if you ever seen the movie The Prince of Egypt where I get most of my theological education it's a great story and then they cross the Red Sea and then it's over but if you've ever read your Bible or are familiar with it you know that this is just one tiny dramatic but it's punctuated event in the whole story of God because the whole story actually begins way farther back it begins almost 500 years before with Abraham God gives his vision to Abraham says listen you're gonna be a dad you're gonna be father this great nation I'm gonna give you this land and it's gonna be great Abraham says great but I have no kids and Abraham waits and waits sure enough he does have a kid and then has a large family but definitely not a nation but through his kids he has Joseph as grandson and Joseph God uses Joseph to get God's people out of Egypt I mean out of Israel or Palestine into Egypt because there's this gigantic famine and so the story of God begins in Palestine goes to Egypt and then they end up being enslaved in Egypt for 400 years and this whole time they have this picture that God were your people were your prized possession we have this land for you and we're slaves and so Moses comes on the scene and God's finally ready deliver them and he delivers them from Egypt but that is only a marker in the whole story of God this one moment because what happens is that what happens they cross the Red Sea not into the promised land into the desert and they don't just like hang out in the desert and go okay they were just gonna you know hang out here and then go in the promised land they're there for 40 years for 40 years in a desert another generation lives and dies before they go in the promised land then they spent generations of people you know time wiping out people trying to figure that out and there's kings and all this mysterious stuff that happens all pointing in some dramatic way that move that they don't have movies for so it's hard to understand to where we finally get to Jesus because the whole story of scripture to God's people the people of God this big picture of being slaves to sin being delivered all point to Jesus and there's this passage in Luke excuse me in Luke where there's this guy Simeon and it says this now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon and he was righteous and devout he was waiting for the constellation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was on him it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah moved by the Spirit he went into the temple courts and when the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law required Simeon took him in his arms and praised God saying sovereign Lord as you have promised you may now dismiss your servant in peace for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all nations a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory for your people Israel now it's amazing is Simeon is part of this huge long story for almost 2,000 years the people of God have been waiting for this Messiah for the for God's kingdom to show up and Simeon was waiting to he was this devout man he wasn't just waiting wandering out he was a devout and righteous man which meant he put himself in a position to hear from God and God actually spoke to him and said you are gonna see the Lord's Messiah how cool is that his whole life this old religious devout man God says you're gonna see him and he does he goes into the temple and he sees his little baby and he says this is it this is the Lord's Messiah the sovereign one of God a light to the Gentiles and the glory of God's people Israel now if you think about it it's very dramatic because it's Christmas but this an awful story he's been waiting for the Lord's Messiah God says you're gonna see him and who does he see an eight day old baby he doesn't see the Messiah he doesn't see God's people coming in and kicking out the Romans and showing up he sees this little baby he has this marker which is dramatic and which is amazing but it is not the whole story because the whole story is it was 30 more years till that baby became a man and did the public ministry of Jesus and 33 years until he died on the cross and then it was 10 more years until Acts 10 when Cornelius was a Gentile become saved and the Holy Spirit comes upon him and this prophecy that that Simeon gives says listen you are gonna be a light to the Gentiles 40 years later now the Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit and are now part of the purpose and kingdom of God and it's 2000 years since then this little chubby kid goes to Westminster Woods and some lady says do you want to become a Christian I said yes I do and I walk down I throw my little stick into a fire and I became a Christian the end no it's not the end these are just markers along this huge long story because that who I was in third grade and what God did to me was just the beginning of who God is doing of what God is doing in me now as an adult and was going to continue to do and so the deal is if we want to wait we cannot just be in the habit of waiting for these customs and for these markers which I admit I do all the time just get me to Christmas just get me to my birthday just get me to graduation just get me to art retires whatever the thing is right just I'm just getting those tarts you right just get me there but that is not what God wants for us if we do that we're going to be disappointed and disillusioned the deal is that we want to wait in a way that is actually a way that we were part of the game every day is part of God preparing our hearts for the kingdom of God and when I look through scripture I found this really great picture of how in the world we're supposed to do that and it's a natural it's an illustration of running and I felt all bummed down I'm like I don't want to do running I'm tired of the running thing it's my only thing Jeff's deal but he's hurt and old now so he doesn't even run anymore I don't want to rub it in and but it's what scripture you just so I'm gonna go with it okay so it says how in the world we're already through all that I'm sorry I didn't I didn't help you out again Tracy so deals how in the world are we supposed to prepare how we live a life where we are preparing for this kingdom of God living well in Hebrews chapter 12 it says this therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders in the sin that's so easily entangled let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith so if we want to know how do we wait in this Advent season we're gearing up for God to show up what God's already here God he showed up this is a rhythm it's a ritual it's a it's a reminder that we want to be prepared we want to be preparing for the kingdom of God to show up and we want to do our part and I love this part says therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses and you go that's therefore obviously is in the middle of a thought so you look back and you realize all of Hebrews chapter 11 is this litany of faithful people of Abraham of Moses of the prophets people over and over again who lived faithfully who stood up in their time and their place in their marker and showed up and did what God called them to do and it goes all in a verse 39 says these were all commended for their faith yet none of them received what had been promised God had planned something better for us that only together with us would they be made perfect so all these people did their thing and part of the story and they're longing they're in this gigantic stadium with millions of saints who've gone forth going we did our part we ran the race we did the kingdom of God and now it is on you they said they are waiting for us for to be perfected in us and by us is not perfected in me Ben current it's perfected in us God's people and so if we want to understand how to do this thing we need to realize first of all that the race is not about me right God's story is not about me the second it's all about me then I am disappointed I'm disillusioned Christmas didn't turn out the way I wanted it to whatever the deal is and I get all messed up but the deal is we are part of this huge enormous story the kingdom of God is this gigantic tidal wave that is happening and we are part of it and so if we think our drop is so amazing and so important and whatever is happening with me is the end all be all well we're going to be in a lot of trouble because everyone's dot everyone's drop of water feels the exact same way but together we as the people of God are part of this enormous story and it is our time to run our lap with millions of saints watching us so the first thing we understand is that we need to know that this race is just not about us and you know this is the case to reflect on any moment because all the things that you want that satisfy you the things that if I can just get this your life will be complete you know those never work out right I mean last spring I so wanted an iPad I was all messed up about it I got my iPad and all it's done is means I spend more time in the bathroom nothing fundamentally has changed in my life like it's just this thing because that I thought if I just get to it right and that's the simple illustration but we all have those things if I can just get here then I'll be fulfilled but you fulfilled for a day for a month maybe we are broken people and so we realize that we are not our story has to be so much more than ourselves we are part of this gigantic story the kingdom of God so first thing I have to do is realize the race is not about us the second thing is it goes on to say that we must throw off everything that hinders and the sin that's so easily entangleds when we run a rat race the picture is that sin is this thing it latches onto us it slows us down and for me I know this isn't true because I I've watched the Prince of Egypt and I've been to seminary I know that God isn't like this but in my mind I still think that sin is don't do this if I do it at some point I'm gonna overstay God's welcome in his patience and he's gonna zap me and if he doesn't zap me he's gonna zap my family or something awful is gonna happen and I'm just waiting for the chips to fall because I am a screw up and I have sinned in my life and God's gonna finally like put me in my place I'm waiting for that moment now if you read scripture that's never the picture we get that's not at all who God is but that's just this sinking feeling that I have inside of me all the time but this picture of sin is not this picture of God going you idiot this picture of sin is just simply a diagnostic test that we are sinful and broken and selfish people sin what it does is it covers our eyes it covers our ears so we can't hear or see what God is doing it's like these blinders like if you see those horses with the blinders on sin just narrows our focus so that all that so that we become the center of everything and if we're gonna hear what God is doing if we're gonna realize that the purpose of God the kingdom of God not about us it's about this gigantic thing and plus God's invisible so it takes a little bit of subjective you know this as well we have to take the junk out of our ears we have to open our eyes and when we sin is that thing so we have to confess our sin we have to own our sin and go God I am a rebellious person I have messed some stuff up please forgive me please transform me please heal me and the weird thing is is when we have we have less sin in our life when we're dealing with our sin we actually can hear from God I was invited to be a part of this visioning team for my friend Phil he's starting this nonprofit here in the Bay Area in Marin County it's this amazing thing and but they're in this like kind of transition time said hey I need some people who are gonna stand with me and pray their guts out and hear from God because we can't hear all by ourselves and all sudden to go okay this day I'm gonna fast and these are the days I'm gonna pray all specifically for this thing this weird thing happens all sudden God shows up all sudden God says stuff God's directing us and all sudden we as a group go this might be the thing that God has for us because we've unplugged our ears we've opened our eyes and now we're open to what God might have for us sin makes it all about us so imagine what this gigantic stadium millions of saints looking down at us is your turn to run the track is our turn is Marin County to run the track and we're all excited and you just kind of get up and you go into the locker room you go to the bathroom get a massage go to the bathroom again I don't know else they do in locker rooms I guess they have drinks or snacks I don't know they're in the locker room and you just forget you missed you missed your whole time around the track because you forget and everyone else from the outside you're an idiot it's our race it's our time but for you like I had to go to the bathroom and that's what sin does it just makes it so about you that you just go and wander and do your own thing whatever it is you go in the locker room but it we can't be in the locker room we need to be on the track it is our race we prepare for running our race in a long and this is what it is this life of faith this building of the kingdom of God is a long race we don't run our guts out for a hundred meters we trudge along with other people day in and day out so we have to we have to realize a race is about us which recognize we have to get rid of our son sin or we're going to be on the sidelines and the last thing we have to do the author of Hebrews goes on and says this and let us run with perseverance to race marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith so many of us are in the custom of having a faith life that our eyes are focused on the destination on the completion on us getting to this thing or this thing happening but the picture of scripture is our eyes are fixed on a person not a destination that makes every single day matter every single day important every single season of life the most important season of life because we are not waiting for this destination we are fixing our eyes on this person every every now and then can I get the pleasure to do a premarital counseling with people and it is so fun to be with people who are so in love it's like they have Justin Bieber CD playing non-stop in their head they are so in love they are so enabored enamored all they can do is they just they just can't get enough each other they touch each other they're so good and Kay and they're like hey what's up you know and but it's so encouraging it warms are hard to be like oh that's what young love looks like and we go and we love to be a part of that whole deal but there is this weird thing that happens you go from oh you're like you're all in it to all of a sudden we're going hey let's get married and then there's like the six month window that happens where it's like I know we're in love and really passionate life's all great we're put that on a hold because for the next six months all we're gonna talk about are wedding invitations colors bridesmaids who sits where what songs we're gonna play and we're going on a high mood and also for six whole months this like all gets thrown out in the destination becomes the whole thing everything is about the wedding and we've seen so many couples get to the wedding and not even enjoy themselves because it's been such drudgery to get to that point and then the wedding comes and it's over and then they haven't even spent six months being all with each other and now they're like whoa what do we do now right and they have to like start over again and that is exactly what this life of faith is is our eyes that are fixed on Jesus every moment every season every day we are all in with him and yes there are destinations yes there are markers and we stop and we celebrate and we praise God for those things but the day in the day out the waiting and whatever is not waiting it is preparing it is warming our heart towards Christ it is building friendship with the people of God it is doing the things that God has called us to do so this Christmas we are we have a Christmas tree we have Christmas presents we have our trader Joe's advent calendar we have all that stuff and we cannot wait we're not some great presents on Christmas day but everything of those things every step along the way is an opportunity for us to talk with our kids and as a family go what kind of family does God have for us who are people that we can bless we draw up a list of 15 names and we're gonna bless these 15 families this this month and we're gonna do that and what are some presents that we can give away and what could we use with this money everything is a teachable moment because at the end of the day Christmas will come and go Christmas is done with and less than a month but our family is our family and we need to continue to work out the kingdom of God in our life in our family when Christmas is long gone so this is a marker and we're gonna celebrate it we're gonna prepare for it we're gonna live fully into it and by God's grace some of that stuff actually carries on as we move on to the next seasons of our life so Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 when that marker happened and this Christmas I'm a strapping young 36-year-old and you well are older and younger some of you right but this is just a simple marker it's a simple day where we go God you are alive you love us you predeemed us we have stuff to do for you we're gonna show up and we're gonna remember this day because you are alive and doing stuff and then we're gonna live into it and the days it doesn't feel like it we come back here and we get encouraged and we soak it up and the days that we feel tons like it we tell our story and encourage others I'm gonna invite the band up and we're seeing one more song as we gear up and continue this Advent deal