Sermon – Jeremiah 33:14-16 - Promises Fulfilled

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Jeremiah 33:14-16 - Promises Fulfilled

Advent 1

December 2, 2012

Thanksgiving is over and it is time to get ready for Christmas. The church calls this time Advent. In Advent we joyfully wait for the coming our our savior. Or at least we are suppose to be joyful. But some of us are living in a world of trouble, and being joyful at this time is a hard thing, if not an impossible thing, to do. There are many people who just can't bring themselves to be joyful right now. And for them all the lights and decorations and presents are nuisances. The problem is that most people are afraid of the future. And when you are afraid of what the future might hold this fear can turn into despair. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I met a young person who was afraid of what his future might hold. This young man has a bright future ahead of him. He has straight As in school and a perfect score on the test needed to enter graduate school. Next year he will be working on a PhD in physics at one of the top schools in the country. And I am convinced that one day he will do something that will benefit the world. But he is apprehensive about his future. He doesn't know yet where he will go for his education. He is unsure about what he will study. And he has no idea what he will do with his life. So he is apprehensive about his future.

I met another person over Thanksgiving who in a different way fears the future. Up until 2009 this person had a successful business remodeling homes for the very rich in Washington DC. He made good money to support his family which includes three teenagers. But then the housing bubble burst and he couldn't find work. Unemployment compensation helped a little but not enough. Today he is doing odd jobs for a fraction of what he used to make. The strain on his family was too much. He and his wife are getting a divorce. Their home will be foreclosed on in a few weeks. He doesn't know where he will live or what he will do. He is very apprehensive about the future.

I met a woman over Thanksgiving who also was also apprehensive about the future. She had come from Korea with her husband and children to study English and hopefully stay here working as a nurse. But it is now much harder for immigrants to get nursing jobs than it used to be. Her husband is working at a place that promised to help him become a permanent resident of the United States. This would help a lot. But now they are not so sure that this will work. They may have to go back to Korea. But their children are doing well in American schools and she would like to keep them here. So she worries every day about what will happen to her family.

All of us worry about the future. We worry about whether or not we will remain healthy as we grow old. We worry about our finances and job prospects for our children. Some of us are even worrying that the Mayan Calendar will come to an end in a couple of weeks. We have plenty of things to worry about.

There are two ways that we can deal with our fear of the future. We can be filled with hope that things will turn out better than we fear. Or we can be filled with despair that what we fear will happen no matter what. Are we filled with hope or despair? If you believe in karma or fate you are doomed to despair because there is nothing that can stop what you fear from happening. You need a savior who will fill you with hope and prevent what you fear the most from.

In the time of Jeremiah the Hebrew people had fallen into despair. Their nation had fallen to the Babylonians. Their farms and cities had been destroyed. They had watched as family and friends had been killed. Many of them had been carried off to exile. Their only hope was that Egypt would come to save them by defeating the Babylonians. But it was now clear that Egypt was not coming. There was no hope, no savior, only despair.

It is hard not to face our own future with despair. We see the large debt the government is running up. We see people unemployed and companies downsizing. We see congregations getting older and smaller. We see our loved ones suffering and sick. We see no hope, and all we are left with is despair.

God spoke to the Hebrew people through the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah with these words.

Jeremiah 33:14-16 ¹⁴ "'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. ¹⁵ "'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.'

God's purpose with this was to fill his people with hope that a savior was on the way. This savior would be a descendant of King David to whom God had promised an everlasting dynasty. God wanted his people to hope in the coming of a messiah who would rule in justice and righteousness.

As we look to the future are we filled with hope or despair? Do we hope that things will be better, or do we despair that they will not? The answer to this question depends on whether or not we believe that a savior in on the way. For some of you your savior is a parent or a child or a brother or sister or an aunt or uncle would will save you if the worst happens. But if your hope is in other people you will be disappointed. Others cannot be you savior because they are too busy trying to save themselves, For others, you will try to save yourselves with money or hard work or land or even prayer, worship and Bible Study. But if you try to save yourself you will fail because works and things have no power to save you from an uncertain future where you may lose your stuff and your abilities. We need a savior because we cannot save ourselves. From where will this savior come?

The Hebrews waited hundreds of years for their savior. King Cyrus of Persia allowed then to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild their city and temple. Judas Maccabeus overthrew the Greeks and made Judah an independent kingdom. But neither of these were saviors. Neither of these were descendants of David. Neither of these were the fulfillment of God's promise to David. The fulfillment of God's promise came two thousand years ago in a place where animals were fed in Bethlehem, David's hometown. God began the fulfillment of the promise he made to David with the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. Today we live with the hope of a glorious future with his promise to return to rule the earth in justice and righteousness. When this occurs God promises will be fulfilled.

This past week I was with a young couple at the hospital in Salisbury. A young man with a pregnant wife had just been laid off from Walmart the day before. He was very apprehensive about his future. He was very discouraged about having to go on unemployment again. He was bordering on despair. But a couple of hours later he called me with good news and great joy in his heart because his daughter Gigi had just been born. The birth of a child fills us with hope and promise. And so the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem fill us with hope that a new, glorious future awaits us.

The promise of scripture is that our savior, Jesus Christ, is coming. In Jesus, God's promise to David has been fulfilled. Jesus is coming and your future is bright. He will come again and we will be resurrected from our graves to live in a new creation. Therefore there is nothing for us to fear. There is no reason for despair, because we are all filled will hope that our Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. And this is why Christians are so joyful at Christmas. Even though our lives are filled with troubles we rejoice because our savior is coming.

I know that many if not all of you have fears of what the future will bring. I urge you this Advent to not despair. Be filled with hope because your savior is coming. You future is bright. So fear not and rejoice at the birth of your savior, Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus we wait you coming this Advent season. We live in a world filled with problems we can't solve ourselves. We are headed to a life of despair. We need a savior who will fill us with hope of a blesses future. Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.