Wilderness Wanderings

It's the 3nd Sunday of Advent! This then is the 2nd Sermon in the series on Romans 8, "A Pregnant Creation - Suffering and Glory"

The text is Romans 8:18-27 from the New International Version of the Bible. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

1. What gift(s) remain unopened according to this passage?
   1. Where do we see it in the Bible?
   2. Where do we see it today?
2. What does "walking well while waiting" look like in this passage?
3. What gift(s) have we already opened?

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Or again as Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message: "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood."

Yup, same text again today. There's one more thing I'd like to say about it before we move on.

Our faith can sometimes become spiritualized in a bad way. We think of a heaven that's puffy and abstract. We talk about high ideals like love, faith, and hope. We participate in studies and sermons where we learn all sorts of good stuff about God.

But do all these words of our faith, our learning, and our Christian ideals become flesh and blood? Do they become concrete and take on life in our neighbourhood?

We say that they did once. We say that the very Word of God leapt off the page and out of the mouth and mind into real, living, breathing existence in the dirt and grind of this world.

The Word of God pooped and had its diaper changed. The Word of God took on a gendered pronoun: "he/him/his" (and dropped the impersonal, dead-on-the-page pronoun of "it"). The Word of God fell and skinned his knees. The Word of God learned a trade and put in some sweat equity. The Word of God knew what it was to watch his adoptive father die and he grieved with his family. The Word of God wept at the graveside of a friend too. The Word of God got thirsty. The Word of God made and drank wine and feasted around tables with reputable and questionable folks alike. The Word of God danced at weddings. The Word of God touched real prostitutes, leapers, and other sinners, healing them. The Word of God got angry at injustice and rioted about it, flipping over tables. The Word of God was nailed to a plank by soldiers, a government, and a religious establishment who had had quite enough of the Word of God's action in their world. The Word of God forgave them.

The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood. And when He did, things happened in that neighbourhood. Things changed.

Does the Word of God still get up and put pants on one leg at a time in our neighbourhoods? I'm not asking if Jesus is still walking among us. But He gave commands, including follow me. The Word tells us that we are His hands and feet in this world, to be judged upon the cups of cold water we did or did not physically, practically bring to those in need. The Spirit is in us to bring the dry bones of our faith to life so that we really can be those hands and feet in the life we live right now, today.

The Word of God was not only the Word of God at church. Jesus was not only Jesus in the synagogue. He was the Word of God always. While playing, eating, working, studying, speaking, traveling, buying, drinking, resting.

Does the Word of God live in your flesh and blood neighbourhood like that? In all those places and activities? It seems to me that if we're to follow Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, then it should.

So on the ornament today, I'm going to invite you to draw a picture of whatever you're going to be doing today—because that is the place where God is inviting His words to be lived out in the flesh and blood of your life today. You can write "Word made Flesh" on your ornament to remind you.

And as for action: well, that's for you to discern. How is the Spirit inviting and prodding you to turn the words of your faith into your life and living today? Pick one and do it.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Here is an earthier translation from The Message

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish (The Message).

You may recall that on Tuesday I suggested that there were two things frequently involved in God's appearances in the Old Testament: he showed his glory here on this earth and he came to call his people back. On Tuesday, I said somethings about God's glory. Today, I want to spend some time on the second thing.

As a background image to this topic, I invite you to imagine God and his angels sitting under the tree having lunch with Abraham. God had important stuff to do further on, but he took the time to linger with Abraham. Many of us cannot imagine God having such time for us, but consider Jesus drawing the little children to himself when his disciples tried to shoo them away. God has time for us. He is Immanuel.

John 1 is a deeply theological chapter that draws in all sorts of Old Testament references. This might cause us to miss the main point, which, as Peterson paraphrases, is: God has moved into the neighbourhood. Why has he come? He has come to find the lost. As Pastor Anthony has been telling us, he came to make the arrangements to adopt us. He wants to be able to call us his children.

Luke 15 Jesus paints three pictures of God on the hunt for us. In the first, he compares God to a shepherd who has lost one of his 100 sheep. He ends the story with way, "And when he (the shepherd) finds it (his sheep), he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep…I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent" (Luke 15:5-7).

So, if you are listening and don't follow Jesus, know that God is looking for you. He wants to find you and call you his child. He wants to give you a brand-new identity and a brand-new family, the church. Please get in touch with us if you'd like to have a conversation about this.

Many of you who are listening have family and friends who do not follow Jesus. Our text has a word of encouragement for you. We wonder how on earth we are going to get them to follow God. Know this, God has his eye on them, he is out searching for your child, your spouse, your relative, your friend.

We try to figure out how to connect people to God. The thing is, God is way better at arranging that connection than we are. In my work as a pastor, I have observed that when people find God, its usually not in the expected manner. God tends to surprise us in the way he finds his lost sheep.

Throughout the stories of Jesus birth, the gospel writers emphasize that Jesus came to save. So, let's have confidence that God is able to connect with people. Let's not try too hard to make it happen, rather let's pray that God will do his stuff and let's tell stories of God's love in our lives.

So, what shall we put on our ornament for today? How about a cell phone? Isn't that how we get in touch with people today? We can even track people with them. God's calling to invite himself for lunch. And for something to do, pray that list of unfound people we have. If you don't have such a list, maybe its time to start one.

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:24-25)

The Gospel of Matthew starts off with the genealogy of Jesus. Seventeen verses of it. Now we all know that genealogies are dull, boring, and long but also probably important somehow. Often times when the church focuses in on the genealogy of Jesus the sermons will zero in on how Jesus is the Son of David, or will talk about the time periods that bookend at Abraham, David, the Babylonian Exile, and the Messiah, or perhaps touch on the strange inclusions of five women in the genealogy as we did at Immanuel last Advent.

But rarely do we focus in on the most glaring issue that this big long genealogy presents, which is the fact that it's not Jesus' genealogy! It's Joseph's. And Jesus is not Joseph's son. Which means that Jesus is also not one of King David's sons.

Matthew is very clear to point this out throughout this first chapter. The genealogy itself draws you into the rhythm of ______ the father of _____, ______ the father of ______. Over and over again. But then the cadence breaks when we get to the last entry which does not say Joseph the father of Jesus, but instead says that Joseph was "the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah." As Matthew continues in the next verses of his gospel, he is very clear to point out that what was conceived in Mary was from the Holy Spirit, not from Joseph—indeed, they did not consummate their marriage until after she gave birth to a son.

So how exactly is it that Jesus becomes the descendent of David? It's not by blood. It's by adoption.

Joseph adopts Jesus as his own son, even though Jesus was not his own son. Ever notice that? Jesus, the one through whom we become adopted into the family of God, was himself adopted.

Now Matthew's gospel never says this directly. None of the gospel writers do. But there is a Jewish tradition that to name something is to take responsibility for it. Adam names the animals at the beginning of Creation. In doing so, Adam takes responsibility for them as he was charged to do.

I wonder then if the unspoken act of adoption occurs right here in the final verse of chapter 1. The climax of the genealogy and the story is not only Joseph's act of taking Mary home to be his wife even though he knows she's pregnant and not by him, but it is also Joseph's act of naming Mary's child, and in so doing, taking responsibility for this child as he was charged by the angel to do. Joseph does not abandon Jesus to illegitimacy and therefore exclusion from the people of God. Joseph adopt this child as his very own.

The one called "Jesus" who would "save his people from their sins," first needed to be saved himself from exclusion when he was most vulnerable; first needed himself to be adopted into a people, so that he might save his people. I marvel at the incredible acts of humility our saviour pursed to become our saviour.

Today on my ornament, I'm going to draw that thing you've been itching to draw all along: the baby in the manger, and over it I'm going to write the word: "Adopted."

For our act of being with someone today, I'd invite you to perform one "act of humility" today in relationship with someone else. That could be something as simple as not insisting that you were right in a conversation where you normally would, letting someone else go first ahead of you, or offering forgiveness. You decide.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Here is an earthier translation from The Message

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish (The Message).

Last week, in our riffs on the Old Testament stories regarding Immanuel, you may have noticed something important: God showed up on this earth. God came to Adam and Eve, he came to Elijah, he came to his people Israel to take up residence in the Tabernacle. God came and he kept coming. All through the Old Testament, he kept showing up among his people.

This is a gross oversimplification, but two things that are present in many of his comings are these: he showed his glory here on this earth and he came to call his people back.

These things are the necessary Old Testament background to our Advent theme: Immanuel, God with us. Yesterday, Pastor Anthony brought us into the New Testament. Matthew, in his telling of Jesus' conception and birth, tells us that Mary's son is Immanuel. Pardon the pun, but John gives some flesh to what this means. As Eugene Peterson translates our text, "the Word (that Creative and Powerful force by which the cosmos was formed and fashioned) became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood."

Hebrews 1 picks up all the grand themes of John 1. Then it spends considerable time punctuating the fact that Jesus is the final and grandest Word of God, THE Immanuel. He is God with us, forever. End of story!

That's why we have chosen to spend this Advent exploring together what Immanuel means. There is lots to be said. And its glorious. Let me leave you with one consideration for today.

When we Christians talk about dwelling with God and seeing his glory, we are often thinking about life after we die physically. We like to say that when a Christian dies, she enters into glory. This is alright after a fashion. But I think causes us to miss one of the truths of Immanuel. What did John say, "we have beheld the glory of God." Jesus reveals the glory of God. And before he left his disciples, he promised to send them his Spirit. Through his Spirit, he would be with them.

Let me say this plainly, the Spirit connects us to God's glory, now, today. This is Paul's teaching in 2 Corinthians 3 which ends with, "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (18).

Dwelling in the glory of God is not reserved for after death. It begins now. Its true that "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face" (1 Cor. 13:12). So yes, there is a difference between then and now, but only one of degrees.

Sometimes we see the glory in the gathering of God's people in worship; sometimes we see it in the face of a fellow Christian; sometimes we see it in someone that we serve or someone who serves us. But see it we do, if we have eyes to see; if we believe.

Jesus is Immanuel. He is God with us. He is here with us now.

Today's ornament needs to reflect God's glory. Be creative. Take time to pray, asking the Spirit to show you God's glory. Remember, Jesus came in the flesh. Most often, we see God's glory reflected in human flesh.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. (John 1:9-13)

At the beginning of John's Gospel, he draws us into the story of creation and redemption together.

The light was coming into the world, says John, the very light through which the world had been made, but the world did not recognize him. The Jesus who came at Christmas was there at the very beginning of the Creation of all things with the Father and the Spirit as together, they formed this world. That was Creation.

And in that Creation, we human people were created too. The crown of the Creation, formed in the image of God as those who would steward his rule on this Earth.

But we forsook our royal heritage to strike out on our own. To create our own kingdom where we make the rules rather than following those set out by God. That was the Fall.

Now John introduces us to the opening chapter of Redemption. Again, Jesus is here, together with the Father and Spirit to do a creating work. This time creating a restoration, a redemption, a right to come home to the royal family as children of God once again.

This theme of homecoming as children of the royal family echoes in our Romans passage from this past Sunday's sermon (which you can listen to again here) and all over the New Testament. But, it's not often the way we think of what Jesus has done for us.

I wonder if that's due in part to the fact that we get distracted by so many other forms of our identity that we loose track of the most important one. We are busy being a "student" or "employee" or "employer." Being "attractive" or "successful." Being a "parent" or "friend" or any number of other things, so much so that we forget who we truly are.

And who we truly are, is an identity far more enduring than any of the ones we create for ourselves or are given in this life, it's far more enduring than even the identity of our own family and surname. Because unlike all these other identities we carry, our true identity did not come "through any human decision."

Our true identity was given us by God Himself. Our true identity is who Christ has made us to be: the children of God. Christian is the identity that counts in our lives. It is who we are. Royalty. Those who Belong. Those who will rule and reign with Christ. Never forget who you are or whose you are. You are a child of God, a child of the King.

Today on my ornament, I'm going to try to draw a family tree and write the words: Child of God on it.

And today, I'd like to invite you to call or message or send a card or email to one fellow Christian to remind them of their identity too: tell them "Remember, you are a child of God!"

It's the 2nd Sunday of Advent! This then is the 2nd Sermon in the series on Romans 8, "A Pregnant Creation - Suffering and Glory"

The text is Romans 8:12-17 from the New International Version of the Bible. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

DIVE IN!

1. What Unwrapped Gifts have we already received from God? And what do those gifts do in our lives? What do those gifts mean in our lives? What about in your own life personally (what do they mean)?

2. What is different between the way that we often define our identity today and the more enduring identity God has given us through the Spirit as Children of God?

3. What do you think heaven is like? Any new thoughts since the sermon? Any surprises?

4. What sort of suffering do you see in the world right now and in your own life? In what way is it part of the larger story of our sin-broken world?

5. What does it mean to share in Christ's glory? What will Christ do when He returns and what will we do with him as Co-Heirs?

6. How will you steward the suffering of this world well this week as you walk on?

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35).

This week, we have been hopscotching around the Old Testament, looking at various events in which God came to his people. These passages introduced our Advent theme of Immanuel, "God with us".

Today's passage is no different. It comes from the very end of the Book of Exodus. Israel has spent considerable time in the wilderness around Mount Sinai. God has spoken to his people, given his law, but also been very angry because they rebelled against him. In the middle of the book, God and Israel would have parted ways if Moses had not interceded for the people.

But the last scene of the book is God coming to his people in glory, filling the tabernacle so full of himself that even Moses could not enter.

In this episode, we see the heart of what Immanuel means. God coming to his people. Many religions are concerned with how we as humans, can find the gods. And granted, many Christians live the same way. But what have we seen in these Old Testament passages is this: God comes to us! "Where are you?" he asks, "What are you doing here?" Or, as Pastor Anthony said yesterday, "I've seen, I've heard, I've come!"

It is important for us to pay attention to this. God comes to us. That is Immanuel.

That does not mean that we always experience God's nearness. For many reasons, God may seem distant. Even Jesus experienced that on the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

These very real experiences of not feeling God's closeness, do not negate the profound reality of the Christian religion that God comes to us. That is at the heart of Immanuel. We don't need to search for God, he searches for us.

This story also portrays that God finding us presents us with a problem. We can't get near God. If God shows up, we can't survive. We can't see God and live as he once told Moses.

There is always the problem of God's holiness, or is it the problem of our unholiness? Our sinfulness?

And thus, it is important to take time to explore Immanuel, God with us. We need to dig deep into a theme that runs throughout the Bible. God searches for us because it is our sin that drives us away from him.

Next week, we will move to the New Testament to meet Jesus, who is Immanuel. He is the only Immanuel that we need because with his death he removed the problem of our sin.

We will have more to say about that later. For now, I want to leave you with two things.

First, Immanuel, God with us, is not a new theme found only in the New Testament. It wasn't something God came up with after a few unsuccessful ideas. It was always his plan and desire to dwell among humanity. We are made in his image after all.

Second, But Jesus is not with us anymore! Does that matter? Well, yes it does. Jesus is not physically with us right now. He sent us His Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit he is spiritually with us. As he told his disciples, "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you" (John 14:14). The Holy Spirit's presences in us, makes Jesus as near to us as if he were here physically.

For today's ornament, I think I will try to draw a cloud in the shape of a dove. The dove is the Christian symbol for the Holy Spirit. And I suggest we nothing more than mediate on the truth that God comes to us in Christ Jesus, and now through His Spirit.

The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians… (Exodus 3:7-8a).

When Elijah traveled to Mount Horeb, he discovered that "the Lord was not in the fire." Years earlier when Moses traveled to Mount Horeb though, that's exactly where God was!

It was on Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God where Moses encountered the burning bush—ever aflame, but never consumed. It's out of that bush, which stood in the wilderness, on a deserted desert mountain, that Moses first met the God of his ancestors.

God had been active in Moses' life, but Moses probably hadn't paid much attention to God. He certainly hadn't had an experience of standing in God's presence. But now in the wilderness, Moses had his sandals off and his face hidden, because God had shown up!

But God hadn't only shown up for Moses' sake. God had come because of the misery and the suffering of his people. They had cried out to God, and God was concerned for them. So he set out to rescue them from their slavery.

This story has an important echo in the scripture passage from Romans we'll explore this Sunday. When Paul writes that "we cry Abba, Father" he's echoing the same language of the cries of God's enslaved people in Egypt. And as Moses discovered in the desert: those are cries that God listens to. Cries that God responds to when, like a good Father, he comes down and scoops us up in his arms to comfort us in the midst of our suffering.

We are incredibly tired of this pandemic we're slogging though. We're itching for any way to claw back some normalcy. We'd really rather focus on anything else. But we cannot let that stop us taking account of our suffering and that of our neighbours. As this thing drags on: jobs are being lost, anxieties are rising, the days are growing darker, and our collective capacity to deal with it all is growing thin.

It's at just such times that God's people have cried out to him for mercy for themselves and for their neighbours. And, it may be in wilderness places just like these where God suddenly shows up in a burning bush to say: "I've seen the misery of my people and heard their cries, so I have come…"

On my ornament today, I'm going to write "I've seen, I've heard, I've come" to remind me that Jesus is always present in the midst of suffering, shouldering the cross with me, even when I'm not aware of it. And, to go with that phrase, maybe I'll draw a cross, maybe a burning bush in the desert, or maybe a good Father. I haven't decided yet—what will you draw?

I'd also like to invite you to be with others today as God is with us. I wonder if there's someone you know who may be facing some particular suffering during this pandemic time. Cry out to God for them in prayer, then go and offer one tangible form of support to them as the hands and feet of Jesus (a card, a call, a gift card, a meal, etc).

Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:13).

This Advent, Wilderness Wonderings is offering you 'riffs' on the theme Immanuel. Yesterday, Pastor Anthony invited us to ponder God's question, "Where are you?" Today, I'd like you to consider with me another question God asked, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Full disclosure. I love this chapter. Many of us who are pastors can identify with Elijah. Of course, Christian who are not pastors can also relate to Elijah's discouragement. But more than that, I am fascinated by God's response to his despairing prophet.

This comes just after Elijah's literal mountain top experience with God. He had challenged the priests of Baal to a do or die contest of the gods. Baal vs the Lord God of Israel. The Baal priests would build an altar to Baal and Elijah would build one for the Lord God. Which ever god sent fire to light their altar would win the contest.

God won in spectacular fashion! It was really no contest.

When all the priests of Baal are killed, Queen Jezebel wants Elijah's head.

Elijah flees in fear and despair.

He drops down, exhausted under a broom tree in the wilderness. He just wants to die. Many of God's people have felt the same. One of them was a great hymn writer, William Cowper. Check out his hymn, Oh for a Closer Walk with God. He composed that, but he also frequently suffered from severe depression.

The thing in this story that always intrigues me is God's response to Elijah. He feeds him. Twice. This is not a prescription for curing depression. However, it does give us an image of God showing up in our discouragement.

Later, Isaiah would write this about God's chosen servant, "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out" (Isaiah 42:3). Jesus recognized that he himself was the chosen servant. I wonder if Isaiah got the idea from God's interaction with Elijah? Its an image of Immanuel, God with us, which Jesus embraced.

Elijah then journeys to the mountain of God, where God appears to him in the whisper of the breeze, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" We may want to lash out at Elijah, "how could you be so discouraged after what God did on Mount Carmel?"

Of course, there may be some mild rebuke in God's question. But God is gentle with Elijah and sets him back on course. Elijah thinks he is all by himself, that he is done and God is done too. But God tells Elijah that he still has 7 000 in Israel who worship him alone. God was doing a whole lot more than what Elijah could see.

And then God gives Elijah more work to do.

On my ornament, I am going to simply write the question, "What are you doing here?" When I am discouraged it will remind me of how God responded to Elijah when he was discouraged.

And is there anyone who you can reach out to in order to offer them encouragement, what ever form that may be.