Sermon for Sunday, December 21, 2008-12-30
by Dcn. David DuMont
THIS JUST IN: "TAKE THE WAITING OUT OF
WANTING!" Realize those plans
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Prayer: May the words of
my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Oh
Lord, our Savior, Redeemer, our Lord.
Amen.
Got plans? Beyond lunch, that is, a plan for your
life. You know, "What's your master
plan?" Maybe you have a five year
plan.
What's on your list of the
most important things for you to accomplish, in this coming year?
Do you have a job
promotion in your sights? …a new
home? …starting a family? Maybe finishing that degree program? As I look around, I can see lots of plans
brewing. It's Christmas Time.
What if a change in
circumstances, or by whatever means… you began to understand that glorifying
God most fully in your life will require you to abandon those best laid
plans?
Are you open to this? How do you see the Lord Jesus, the Christ in
relationship to your master plans?
Well here we are in
Advent. This is the fourth Sunday of
Advent. Christmas is almost here and our
readings bring us both these themes…
In short, you can think of
them as "Got Plans?" and "Waiting". Perhaps they will come clear as we go on.
We find these themes in
the story of David from 2 Samuel, chapter 7 and in our Psalm, Psalm 89.
Let's examine those
passages. Notice in 2nd
Samuel, David was resting in his cedar palace when he decides that he should
not have better digs than the Lord. So
first thing, he gets Nathan the prophet involved. And Nathan answers, "The Lord is with
you, so do whatever you are thinking of."
But afterward, the Lord
gets Nathan's full attention and the message goes something like this. "You thought you should do something for
me, but I am going to do something for you.
I am going to make a dynasty from you." Read it in verse 8 and following.
The Lord tells Nathan:
8 “Now go and say to
my servant David, 'This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I
took you from tending sheep in the pasture and selected you to be the leader of
my people
“‘Furthermore, the Lord declares that he will make a house for you—a dynasty of kings! 12 For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. 13 He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod, like any father would do. …. 16 Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’” (NLT)
Let's notice a few things
from this passage:
Notice that even though
David was a man after God's own heart, he did not instinctively know God's
plans. His plans were not God's
plans. David wanted to know God's plan, but
the Lord used Nathan to help David hear from God. The One we worship is always greater than our
understanding. Remember the Proverb's
instruction, "…lean not to your own understanding but in all your ways
acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." (Prov. 3:5-6)
God is not only greater
than our best plans; He graciously enters our imaginations, our understanding, even
that deepest part of us, our hearts, when we remember who we are inviting and
worship Him. We worship a great and
mysterious God. He will not fit into our
pockets. He will not fit our grandest
dreams. He is greater than our best
imagined plans. He's not
predictable. He's not safe. But He's always good.
David understood this and
worshiped. We can see this in David's
prayer following our lectionary selection.
Watch David's response to the Lord's promise of a royal dynasty that
will continue forever.
2
Samuel 7:18-26 (ESV)
- David's Prayer -
18Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you
have brought me thus far? 19And
yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken
also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction
for mankind, O Lord God! 20And what more can David
say to you? For you know your servant, O
Lord God! 21Because of your promise,
and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to
make your servant know it. 22Therefore
you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no
God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23And who is like your
people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his
people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by
driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a
nation and its gods? 24And
you established for yourself your people
Notice that David has put
aside his plan to build a
Notice in Psalm 89, we are
reminded of that very covenant to David we read of in 2nd
Samuel. And why do we recite that
Psalm? We join with David and the
Psalmist because that recitation works faith in us. This is what we do when hymns and spiritual
songs, or Christmas Carols are sung from our hearts.
In that situation where you wonder about God's
faithfulness, sing about His faithfulness.
Remember His promises and find joy in them. Your faith will be strengthened as you speak
it. The words to our worship songs
matter immensely. They must be true
statements. And as we sing true things
about our God, we are strengthened in faith to believe that will do it. Are the Scriptures true that say…
(Jos 23:10
NASB) "One of your men puts to flight a
thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised
you.
(1Ki 8:56 NASB) "Blessed be the LORD, who
has given rest to His people
(Heb 10:23
NASB) Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without
wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
We have remembered an
account of God's promises and His faithfulness to David and noticed his humble
worship in response to God's promises.
But our Gospel reading comes from a different time. God's people are not ruled by a descendant of
David. Herod is not a descendant of
David and Pilate is a Roman, a gentile!
In fact, it appears to his people that the forever clause in God's
covenant was lifted. Perhaps the Lord
had revoked His promise because of their wickedness. God's people are WAITING for that promised
descendant of David, the Messiah. You
might say, they were in an extended Advent season.
One of those Jews waiting
for her Messiah was a young peasant girl by the name of Mary. Mary was engaged to be married to a man named
Joseph who lived in Nazareth of Galilee.
That's where our Gospel reading begins its account of a remarkable
story.
The Angel Gabriel was sent
to Mary with an incredible declaration of God's plans. We know this very important passage as the
beginning of the Christmas story.
"Do not be
afraid", the Angel tells Mary, "for you have found favor with
God." Then Gabriel describes the
miracle of Jesus' birth to be that King and descendant of David whose kingdom
will last forever.
Mary did not argue with
God's plan. Mary did not reject His call
upon her life, as odd as it must have sounded.
She did question how it could possibly happen… She asked, ’how will this be, since I am a
virgin?
Questions are good! Lord, how will that happen? Where will the resources come from? How will I be able to do that job without the
necessary skills?
Mary’s response was a
simple, and humble response of faith: “I belong to the Lord, body and
soul. Let it happen just as you say”;
and the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and that first Christmas was soon to follow.
Both David and Mary
responded with praise and wonder when the Lord God showed them his plans for
them. Do you understand that as one who
belongs to the Messiah, the Christ of Christmas, you have a share in this
covenant made to David? You are a
spiritual descendant of both David and Mary.
King Jesus calls you to enter into His Kingdom. Praise God with them… and with Paul in our
New Testament reading:
25Now all glory to God, who is able to make
you strong, just as my Good News says.
This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles,
a plan kept secret from the
beginning of time. 26But
now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message
is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and
obey him. 27All glory
to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever. (
God’s call is upon each
one of us, to enter into His Kingdom. Remember
Jesus warned, "…many are called but few are chosen." (Matt. 22:14)
He has a perfect plan for each one of you. There is work to do. What will you do in the name of Jesus. Will you repeat Mary's response, “I belong to
the Lord, body and soul. Let it happen
as you say”?
Responding to the Lord’s
call, Samuel responded, 'Speak, for your servant is listening' (1 Samuel 3:10).
Listen for the Lord's call
through the following… look for His plans.