The truest form of strength is displayed through things like humility, vulnerability, forgiveness, generosity, selflessness. For when we take on the qualities, it creates space in our hearts and lives for God to be at work in us and through us.

In a culture that is focused on strength, may we come to know that true strength comes from the “weakness” of humility, vulnerability, forgiveness, and love. For these are the very things displayed in the life of Christ, our LORD.

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We are invited to live generous lives in response to the generosity that has been shown to us by God.

Generosity can come in all kinds of forms. It can come in how we give our money. It can come in how we give our time.

You are invited into a process of discernment on one step you can make toward greater generosity. As we become more generous, our lives reflect the generosity of God.

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Mature, authentic Christianity is to see that life is not a bit of this, then a bit of that; it is often both at the very same time. Can we, as Christians, learn to grieve and celebrate at the same time. Can we learn to share in the pain of the world while also sharing in its joy? Can we learn to share in the tears and laughter of God? If we can learn these things, then we will live full lives. 

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At the time of death, Paul understands that the veil between heaven and earth is removed and we experience the full presence of God as we await the joining of heaven and earth and the redemption of our bodies. In this way, death is not a friend that releases us from the burden of physicality, death is an enemy that has been defeated through resurrection!

God’s infinite love and forgiveness IS NOT moral indifference. God does not tolerate evil and it will not be allowed in God’s new creation! Judgment is the process of cleansing our sin and sorting those that choose to remain in bondage to sin. Discipleship is not gathering more information, it is learning to live according to the truth of who we are in Christ.

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Behind all of life, complete with the ups and downs, is the resurrection hope of Jesus. New creation has broken in. Death has been overcome. Therefore, we do not lose heart. With belief of the faithfullness of God (Psalm 116) in the background and the resurrection of Jesus in the forefront of his mind, the testimony of Paul the Apostle is that our eyes should be fixed on what is unseen rather than what is seen.

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As children of God, we are brought back into our vocation as sons and daughters of God, this time with the Spirit of God to lead, guide, and empower us! We are invitedto live as God’s image-bearers in the world who carry out the rule of God.

What does the rule of God look like? 

Look at the true Son of God, Jesus. Through his ministry, Jesus shows what it looks like when God’s will is done on earth as in heaven.

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In the second week of our series, “The Prophets Foretold,” we learned how Christ is a new kind of king establishing a new kind of kingdom. In particular, we learned that God’s kingdom is restorative. The prophet Zechariah also brings a word about this new king and his kingdom.

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
-Zechariah 9:9-10 (NIV)

The prophet speaks of a king who will ride into Jerusalem on a donkey and establish a kingdom of peace.

When we read about Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem in Mark 11 we assume that riding on a donkey is a meaningful picture of Jesus as a humble servant leader. Zechariah gives us the whole picture! Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey because as king he will get rid of the usual transportation for a king: the war horse. Since He will be a different kind of king the message is clear: The Lord’s True King has no use for a war horse because he will come to establish peace.

Notice, he does not establish peace with greater violence. Nor does he establish peace by giving weapons to the “good people” instead of the “bad people.” This king knows that true and lasting peace cannot come by the sword!

This king knows that if peace is won through violent force it is not peace at all, it is only the absence of conflict for a time. This king knows that is peace is won through violent force it is establishing a kingdom on the same foundation and nothing has changed.

His peace will come by his people letting go of hate and fear and taking hold of the fact that all the hate, violence, and vengeance we are tempted to bring against one another has already been brought upon him. The prophet Isaiah says it this way in Isaiah 53, “He was beaten that we may have peace.” This king’s death has opened up a new way of life for anyone that claim’s his name.

The prophet also points out that this king’s kingdom will have no geographic limitation for he is fit to rule all the nations. He will bring peace to the nations, which means that all nations will benefit from this king’s rule. As his people, need to realize that his rule, called the kingdom of God, is here right now and if we are to truly follow Him, we are to live under his rule, and not the rule of fear, hate, or violence. It is all too easy to be ruled by hate, fear, and violence. But our King and Lord calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We are, as followers of the Prince of Peace, to be peace-makers!

I love the following quote from Pamela Hawkins. It reminds us that the truth of Advent comes with a mission to apply God’s truth in the world.

Advent is a season of good news. In this season we prepare, by faith, to celebrate the birth of God-With-Us, Immanuel. According to the prophet Isaiah, this good news comes not just for us whose lives have been attuned to listen for, celebrate, and receive it; it comes also for the many others who wait day and night for us to act upon it—the oppressed; the brokenhearted; the captives and prisoners; the mourning, ruined, and devastated. —Pamela C. Hawkins, Behold!

For more information about our call to be peace-makers, click on the resources below from Emmaus Road Church, a church in Fort Collins.

Listen to the podcast
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In the first week of our series, “The Prophets Foretold,” I mentioned that the ancient prophets were poets. This means they often use metaphor and symbol to communicate their message. This passage is a good example:

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The Lord Our Righteous Savior.
-Jeremiah 23:5-6

A common metaphor among the prophets was a branch. Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Zechariah all spoke of a righteous Branch that would come. The metaphor was meant to imply that the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, (the people to whom these prophets were speaking) had become a stump that had been cut down. The imagery of the branch is meant to bring to our minds a picture of a new branch growing out of a dead stump. All this talk about a branch shows God’s restorative heart! He wants to bring new life out of that which was dead.

A dead stump may seem like a harsh word picture, but as a people, Israel was in trouble. Part of their trouble was with kings. The prophet Jeremiah speaks of a new king, but in order to understand the hope of that statement, we need to know a little something about the kings of Israel.

To begin with, Israel was never intended to have a human king (or kings) because God was their king! But, early on, they looked at the Gentile nations around them who all had kings and they got to thinking that they wanted a king (it’s funny, isn’t it, that we also look for things that we already possess in Christ). The prophet at the time, Samuel, tried to tell them that they didn’t need a king, but they insisted and so he told them, “God will give you a king, but you aren’t going to like it.”

The very first king of Israel was Saul. Saul great at the beginning, but the power of being king soon corrupted his heart and he turned against God. After Saul was David. David was a good, though not perfect king. He would become the model for what a righteous king looks like. After David came Solomon. Solomon was wise but he too, turned evil at the end of his days. After that Israel splits into two kingdoms. Rehoboam became king of Judah in the south and introduced cultic worship. Jeroboam became king of Israel in the north and abolished worship of Yahweh and instituted worship of a golden calf. The prophets would describe many kings after him as “walking in the way of Jeroboam.”

Things go from bad to worse after that! This community had become a stump that was cut down.

The prophet Jeremiah speaks (400 yrs. after David & 600 yrs. before Christ) of a king that will be a Branch from the line of David who will do what is right and just. Righteousness, in this sense, doesn’t just mean a person of noble character. Righteous means covenant faithfulness. So, there will come a king who demonstrates God’s faithfulness, who is the embodiment of God’s covenant. This king will be righteous, bring justice, and be the fulfillment of God’s covenant to Israel.

God’s Restorative Kingdom

Approximately 600 years after Jeremiah spoke these words, this happens – and it’s recorded in Luke 1:26-33 (NIV),

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Jesus comes as a new kind of King, and inaugurates a new kind of kingdom (that is growing and expanding to this day). In his kingdom, things will be made right for those who have suffered wrong. After all, that’s what true justice is. In our culture, our primary picture of justice is violent retribution, but God’s justice is different. God’s justice is restorative! Where God is in charge the…
poor are restored to prosperity
sick are restored to health
suffering are restored to wellbeing
rejected are restored to acceptance
oppressed are restored to liberty

and the ultimate restoration; the sinner is restored to forgiveness.

Jesus reveals that God’s heart all along was to restore. Jesus fulfills God’s heart to restore the people of God to himself. Jesus embodies God’s faithfulness to his people. And more than that, through Jesus all people can be brought into God’s covenant faithfulness by faith!

We now live as members of God’s restorative kingdom. A kingdom not defined by race, or income, or location, but a kingdom entered into by faith, defined by love, and marked with joy.

For the first hearers of Jeremiah, the promise of a new King meant that God hadn’t left them all alone in the middle of their mess. The same is true for us! In the middle of your mess, God has not forgotten you! God steps into our mess! When things go wrong. When you mess up. When tragedy strikes. God steps into all of that and works to restore it. That is the beautiful truth of Advent: God is with us!

Listen to the Jeremiah passage from The Message:
“Time’s coming”—God’s Decree—
“when I’ll establish a truly righteous David-Branch,
A ruler who knows how to rule justly.
He’ll make sure of justice and keep people united.
In his time Judah will be secure again
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name they’ll give him:
‘God-Who-Puts-Everything-Right.’
-Jeremiah 23:5-6 (MSG)

To learn more about God’s restorative kingdom, click on the resources below from Emmaus Road Church, a church in Fort Collins.

Listen to the podcast
Download the sermon outline
Download the sermon discussion guide

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