A Christ is Needed

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0:00 So I was thinking, as I was thinking about this being Advent, this is our 11th Advent as a church together, which makes me really happy. Also a little bit like surprised, I guess time keeps going faster, the older that you get. Feels funny to have 11 Advent as a church together, 11 starts to the year. Enough that I was thinking about like, what's it worth us spending time on?

0:34 I don't know about you, but like maybe this is a weird thing for me. There's enough things I could think about that when there's not something I have to think about, I feel like it's important what I put my brain on, what I spend time thinking about. I think about it with what books I'm reading. I think about it when I'm driving, what's I really thinking about right now? And I was like, there's a lot going on, especially in the season, it really kind of feels like it ramps up.

1:05 All of your social calendars, your work calendar gets busier, all the days are spoken for. And then in addition to like trying to wrap things up for the year, maybe with work or with family, also running the back of mine, executing holidays and making sure that they are like amazing. You only have so many, right? And you feel like how many Christmases do we have and you want to do it just right? And so I was thinking, man, if we're going to carve out time on Sunday mornings to be together,

1:38 it ought to be content that's worth our energy and thinking. Not just going through a story because it's the story that we've told, but something that is substantial or meaningful. And so for me, when I asked, what do I need to hear this year? I was thinking about, there's like four themes for Advent that a Christ is needed, a Christ is coming, a Christ has come, and a Christ will come again.

2:12 And so this week I'm just thinking about like the way, the case in which we need a Christ, like you need a Christ, I need a Christ. And the story for me in that, I mean, most stories, most good stories start at the beginning. Right? And the story, the beginning for us, the story of Genesis is like, I mean,

2:47 we could spend forever thinking the story. And for me, most meaningful messages for people of faith can be traced back to this, but our shared notion, our concrete belief in where the world comes from. The first defining characteristic of our God, distinct from other gods, is that our God is the God of creation, our God inaugurated the world out of nothing.

3:21 Right? Out of sheer imagination and the force of His will, our God calls the world into existence and says that the crowning achievement of creation is humanity. He gets down and forms them out of the dust and breathes the breath of life into them and launches them into this world that lives inside of His imagination. Right? Like, I love the idea that all of creation springs from the imagination of God, and so we live inside of the creativity of God.

3:55 But that is how we were intended to live, right? And I mean, we could go through several parts of this, but like, the part that I want to look at is just when things fell apart because so much of the experience of life, pre the break in the relationship, we don't have descriptions of. Because who can imagine what that might be like? But we do know how the disruption, the fall, changed our experience of life.

4:29 And so in Genesis chapter three, you know, when the serpent comes and says the thing he says, and then verse four, he says to the woman, you won't die God's a liar. He's not telling you the truth. He doesn't have your best interest at heart. Verse six, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, that the tree was desired to make one wise, she took its fruit in eight,

5:04 and she gave a son also to the husband who was with her in eight, and the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they stowed fig leaves together and made themselves loinclaws. The first part here, it's not like the fruit, we don't get the sense when you read the story, that the fruit has some magical component that changes Adam and Eve. It's more the nature of the relationship between them and God that changes when they eat the fruit.

5:35 When they are able to recognize, I don't need to know why God doesn't want me to eat that fruit. God's the God. He prescribes boundaries for me that are, he is the maker of all things, including me. He knows the best way for me to live, and he prescribes the boundaries in which I live. And I don't need to know why, I just need to know I'll let him be God and make those decisions, and I'll live inside of this space. When Adam and Eve step out from underneath that and say,

6:06 I don't need to live merely inside of the prescribed spaces for God, I can step out and make decisions that are God-sized decisions. He says we should need everything but not that. I'll eat that specifically. And then of course this crushes them, and when it says that they were naked, it's not just now that they realize they're naked, they make clothes. It's one thing to realize you're naked, it's another to realize I ought to not be naked. And so immediately there's a degree of shame, there's a fear of vulnerability,

6:38 that they did not have before, that they did not have before. I mean, it is very hard to imagine a life with no fear of vulnerability. It is very hard to imagine and existence without shame at all. This is what the scriptures describe, this is what our people for generations beyond count

7:13 have said this is where we came from, a God who made a world for us and set us into a life without fear of vulnerability or shame. And it entered the world at a specific point, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves the wine cause, and they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden and the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. It's interesting to think about that there was a time where they were here, the Creator God,

7:46 walking through the forest and not be afraid. It's interesting to imagine where they would be so comfortable in the presence of the Creator God of the world that they wouldn't be afraid when they heard him coming. I would be afraid right now. I might, if I could psych out myself intellectually to believe in truth the things that I've said over and over again,

8:17 I might gain the courage to stay and still, but I certainly wouldn't run. I would think I would be afraid. It's interesting to imagine that they are so absent of fear before they step out from under the prescribed ways for God to live that they're not even afraid of the Creator God of the universe. And then, of course, they step outside of it, and now they are afraid again of fear enters the world. And they hid themselves from the presence of God among the trees, but the Lord God called to the man and said,

8:48 where are you? He said, I heard the sound of the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said, who told you that you were naked? And have you eaten from the tree? And then the man said, oh, he gave this game of guilt and blame. You see what I'm saying? Like fear of vulnerability, shame, fear, guilt, all the negative emotions come in, are introduced into the world, but they're not part of how we were intended.

9:20 This is why then, of course, God takes Adam and Eve out of the garden to preserve a future so that they don't, he says, that less they live forever in the state, to preserve a future to keep alive the hope that we might one day again encounter the life we were made for without these things. And he says, he's going to have to do it.

9:51 If you follow the story of scripture, when I first read through the story of scripture, consecutively install the evolution of God's attempt to move humanity back to the life that they were made for, where you see, like, as they leave the garden of Eden, and he puts a flaming sword at the entrance so they can't get back in and eat forever in this state where work is a drudgery, where death is a certainty, where fears, shame and anxiety rule.

10:28 And he doesn't want them to live forever like that. Then the first generation, of course, Eve comes running back. She says, I've had the man. She feels like she had the one that God promised in the first generation. She didn't know it would be hundreds of generations. Right? Before Jesus, and then before Jesus returned, and just set all things to right. But after that, then, of course, you have the bat, you have the flood. My brain stopped. Which comes for flood or babble?

11:04 It goes flood, then babble, then Israel. It goes to flood because all the desires of their heart were all evil all the time. And then it goes to babble because they, after Noah's family, several generations, and they feel like we're going to solve this problem. We're going to do it ourselves. Right? We don't need a God. We can get back to the God ourselves. And God's like these sweet blood craze, man. He limits their years. He spreads them into nations. Then he picks one nation.

11:39 And remember, we talked about it, like in Israel, he's going to make them a little vineyard. He's going to establish them just as his people, and he's going to bring his proximity down to them. And then, of course, in Egypt, he brings them out in Exodus, takes them to Mount Sinai. And they get, they see the manifest presence of God. He sets up the sacrificial system in order that they might have his actual physical presence down among them. And they set up these sacrificial systems, God's physical presence is among them. And still, it's not getting there.

12:10 Then he sets up the kings as a physical representation of the God. He'll have a direct representation with the king. The king will do God's will among the people. Still, nothing kings are crooked. The like pervasive pull that says, God doesn't have my best interest at heart. The like dividing natures of fear and anxiety, the certainty of death, the fear of vulnerability, right? The grasping for power to make ourselves feel powerful and worth it, right?

12:42 All of these things continue to pull people away so that there is not a solution. If you were going to try and build for yourself a life completely absent of shame or fear, where you were 100% comfortable with vulnerability, even if you were like super counseled and like healed all of your neuroses and challenges,

13:16 resolve all of your own crazy, you still have the clock of death coming for you. If we hold out hope that there is a life for us beyond this one, we will need a Christ.

13:54 He promises it like all this time later in Luke. I was looking back at the story of the incarnation of the birth of Jesus. You know it's not in all the gospels. John skips over it, Mark skips over it. Matthew and Luke give us a story of the birth narrative, which is interesting because Christmas has become such a big deal.

14:28 You would think all of the four gospels give us a nuanced introduction to the birth of Jesus, but they just don't. It wasn't that central. It almost certainly wasn't in December. It reigns the church here to align with when people were already celebrating things. Instead of celebrating the winter equinox or solstice or whatever it is, we will celebrate the birth of Jesus here, which was probably born in the spring.

14:58 So when you start looking at the birth narratives of Jesus, it's interesting to note what's going on. One of the things that is fun is to remember how closely aligned it is with the birth of John the Baptist. That Mary, this young little girl who's promised to have this liberating king, the answer to set Eden to right is coming through her. She has all the socio-cultural complexities of it.

15:32 And what does she do? I love that Mary, who is favored by God, who gets the visitation from Gabriel. When she sees Gabriel, she's afraid. When she has this remarkable, responsive face that says, if God's going to happen, it'll happen to me. I'll accept it. I love that she still is in a place where she needs comfort. And it's not some angel that comforts her.

16:05 It's not some like a serial, unmediated presence of God that she meditates and sustains herself. Young Mary runs to her cousin, Elizabeth, and they comfort each other. I love that. And they comfort each other, of course, because Elizabeth is pregnant as well. And I was looking at Zachariah's prophecy in Luke chapter 1.

16:38 Remember that Zachariah was a priest, and he had a similar visitation in the Holy Holy, in the presence of God. And Angel comes and says, big news Zachariah, this is the theme for the people of God. You're bearing now, you'll have a kid. And he doesn't believe it. And then once she has the baby, he's finally allowed to speak again, because he didn't believe it. He was struck down, and he's allowed to speak again. And his father, it says in Luke chapter 1 verse 67, and his father Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

17:10 let's be the Lord God of Israel, where he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. And he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets of old, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who made us, to show the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to his father Abraham, to grant us that we may be delivered from our hand of our enemies.

17:42 Mike, serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days, and you, child, is looking at John. What we call the prophet of the most high, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give knowledge of salvation to the people, and the forgiveness of his sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sun rise to visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet to the way of peace.

18:12 Zachariah gives his prophecy, the people of God had had no prophecies for 400 years. They had experienced, they had heard, they had told stories about people who spoke for God, but for 400 years, they had been conquered, and conquered, and occupied, and never heard anything. To the point where the stories had become these rote rules and mechanistic things, devoid of spirit or passion, just things they would follow.

18:44 And Zachariah was one of the best at following them, so when he gets this message that's outside the rules, he can't believe it. And then when he sees the baby, Zachariah comes with a prophecy and announces God's Word to people, though they haven't heard it for over 400 years, and he says that this one will announce the coming of the final resolution to all the problems of humanity. And he quotes, because he's like a priest and steeped in it, he says, give light to those who sit in darkness,

19:18 which quotes this prophet Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 9, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who dwelled the land of the deep on them, and light has time, for unto us the child is born unto us, and the son is given in the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. What I'm trying to say is that Jesus coming right there when he did was at just the right time,

19:50 but at a million times before that, it looks like it would never happen. Like for Eve when she had the kid and thought, when am I going to get back to the life I was made for, it looks like it would never happen. When Abraham was promised a life he was made for, and he was buried in the cave with one son, no nations, no land, it looked like the promises of God would never happen.

20:22 When Moses wasn't allowed to go into the promised land, it looked like it would never happen. Over the 400 years, when you look down at the people of God and all you see is pharacyical exclusivity, it looks like it will never happen. And in the midst of the pharacyical exclusivity of the church comes one prophetic voice from a dad that spreads into a crazy man in a desert on the far side of the Jordan River, who announces the coming of the one on whom all the government has told us over the late and for an eternity.

21:01 Nothing will break down his kingdom. I would like to say that I understand that you are like busy. And that life maybe isn't what you expected or wanted. I can believe and agree it has been a long time since Christmas, the first one.

21:31 But the first one happened. The second coming is coming. This is the truth that has sustained our people from the beginning of time. And every time when it looked like it wouldn't work, the Creator God pulled it out again and made good on promises.

22:05 God has made promises to us that this life is not good enough for us, that he has secured for us a life that does not end. In a world closer to what he intended than this one. And Christmas is our promise, our life down payment and seal, that this God makes good on his convictions, on his commitments.

22:44 That because he came once, he will come again and set all your wrongs to right. Resurrect every hope and good intention. Substantiate you in a body with a purpose and a life that can go on forever.

23:14 I hope that is good news for you. I was talking to a pastor friend of mine last week and he was saying that he was wondering, asking how do you describe Heaven in a way that is helpful for people. And I was saying, well, I don't know, but here's what's helpful for me.

23:46 I love the idea since we get a new Heavens and a new Earth. I love the idea that eternity means I don't have to choose. It means I can explore every little valley and canyon and I can launch off and explore every galaxy and sun. I can go down into oceans and up onto mountain peaks and also I can do it six times with six different people if I'd like.

24:18 I can read everything that's ever been written and explore every relationship. I can learn every instrument. I can learn every art. I can practice every skill. Like you have set out in front of you an eternity where you will become who you want to be forever. And not alone with your cousins. Mary and Elizabeth and anybody else. Christmas means those days are coming.

24:51 And that is like of critical importance for me. It is sustaining for me. I hope that it might be for you this season. Let's pray for that. Hey Lord, thank you for the gift of your son and what it means to us. Sustain us in faith, Lord, in this season of life and give us a sense in this advent of preparation for that return.

25:23 Orient us in this season to the things that are important. And when I be prepared, Lord, when you come, fill with you forever. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.