Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-16; Matthew 6:25-33; Hosea 12:6 Series: Advent
Preached on the first Sunday of Advent (the Christian New Year, Hanging of the Greens), this sermon argues that day-to-day worry is bound up with our expectations—of teams, children, spouses, ourselves, and even Jesus. Using personal stories of the Astros’ playoff elimination and the Longhorns’ loss, the pastor observes that anxiety dissolves once expectation is gone, and is worst when there is nothing we can do. But Jesus’ command in Matthew 6 not to worry is not life-coaching; it rests on the assumption that Jesus is Lord—the Word made flesh who came and will come again. Advent waiting is therefore not nervous waiting. Echoing Hosea, the answer is not merely ‘don’t worry’ but to fill our waiting and our worried moments by holding fast to love and justice and returning to God.’
Illustrations: astros-playoff-relief, first-astros-game-sons, longhorns-washington-penix, jesus-not-life-coach
December 1
How We Fill Our Waiting
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Matthew 6:25-33
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.” - Jeremiah 33:14-16
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. - Matthew 6:25-33
I’ve shared with you all before how I’m a big Astros fan. I grew up as an Astros fan. I’ve enjoyed our run of success over the last eight years. I do not think that they are cheaters. I can go into a deep discussion about that, but that is not really a pulpit conversation.
Regardless of the legality of their activities between 2017-2019, they went to seven straight conference championships. Which, if you don’t know baseball, is really hard to do. It is much rarer than even making the World Series. The only other team to do it was the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s, and I don’t think that that should count because there was a strike in ‘94 and the Astros were amazing that year and would have not let the Braves get to the conference championship, but again, that’s a separate conversation.
This year, they were going to continue that streak. It wasn’t the best team they have had, but we were excited. We took the boys, Dominic and Ephraim, to their very first Astros game ever, like a week before the end of the season. The Astros got 20 hits. It was an awesome experience. They loved it. We were rooting for them in the playoffs and then, they were just bad. They lost a game, and it was annoying and frustrating I was trying to be hopeful and root for them. They lost another and I was nervous. I was anxious. I didn’t know what was going to happen next. Finally, when they were eliminated, surprisingly, I was relieved.
Sure, I wanted them to win, but I couldn’t worry about them anymore, I couldn’t stress about it. The rest of the baseball playoffs were relaxing. The anticipation, the expectation was gone. Without any expectation, there can be no worry.
A similar thing happened last year during the college football playoffs to the Longhorns. I’m not trying to curse this. It’s a completely different system this year, so it can’t happen in the same way, but after the Longhorn’s lost to Washington (or blew the game to Washington by deciding not to tackle Michael Penix. It was an interesting choice to not tackle the quarterback, but they did it and had to suffer the consequences). After their loss, in the championship game, I was relaxed. It was like, “oh, this is kind of fun. No skin in the game.”I had no expectations. It was peaceful.
I’m not saying every anxiety or every worry is connected to expectations. I don’t want to be so generalizing. Many of us suffer from anxieties that are general. Many take medication and that’s great. And I want to support it.
My point is that there is a connection between day to day worries and our expectations. Our expectations of ourselves, our children, the people in our lives, and an insecurity around if those expectations are going to be met.
If you’re supporting a sports team and you expect them to win the title, there is a nervous energy until their season is over, but they’ll either win or they won’t. Other expectations work in less decisive ways. With the people in our lives, we have long term and short term expectations. Expectations around our children, our friends, our family, ourselves, especially our spouses. As well, for those of you here or watching online, we all have expectations around Jesus.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. It is the Christian New Year. We’re starting a new season. We are hanging the greens today. We are decorating the church. We are preparing our church for the coming of Jesus and we are starting this season of preparing our hearts for the coming of Jesus. What do we expect of Jesus? What do we expect of ourselves? How can we have those expectations and not build up a counterweight of worry?
In the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has these words from Chapter 6 about worry that are pretty stark. He points out how worry doesn’t help a situation, but I think we need to see Jesus’s words not as simple life advice. Jesus is not an influencer. Jesus is not a life coach. Jesus is the word made flesh, incarnated at Christmas, baptized the Jordan River by John. Jesus who ministered, who raised the dead, who healed the sick, who made the blind see, who made the deaf hear and the leprous to return home, who forgave the sinner, who preached the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is not a life coach. The Bible is not there to give us some helpful tips on success. Jesus calls us to turn our life around: Repent and believe in the gospel! Everywhere in the sermon of the Mount, there is an assumption of the presence of God in your life. Do not worry because Jesus is Lord. Worry hasn’t added a minute to your life because Jesus is Lord. Blessed are the poor and spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven because Jesus is Lord.
You may have nervous energy about the Longhorns going through the playoffs or the Cowboys and what’s gonna happen in their future, or other non-sport related nervous energies like your job, your kids, your future. As we enter this Season of Advent, may we prepare our hearts by cleaning out our nervous energy. Not because we’re so good or so strong or have just amazing willpower, but out of faith that Jesus is Lord, that our expectations of ourselves, of our children, of our neighbors, do not have a final say over us. The God who created everything has come to us in Jesus Christ and will come again. Advent has two meanings. It is both waiting for the infant Jesus in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, as well as waiting for Jesus to come again and judge the quick and the dead as we say in the creed.
Waiting for Jesus is not a nervous waiting. As it says in the prophet Hosea, Return to the Lord, hold fast to love and justice. I’m at my most worried for the Astros when Longhorns when there’s nothing I can do about it. I am not on the team It’s not my team. I just support them. They’re a bunch of millionaires. The college team. It’s a bunch of people who are going to be millionaires.
In my own life, though, it is those moments when I don’t know what to do that are the hardest that are the most filled with worry and anxiety. Hosea gives us something to do. Jesus gives us something to do. The point is not don’t worry, but fill those moments of worry with nothing else, but like Hosea says, hold fast to love and justice. This is how we fill our waiting. This is how we fill or seeking. This is how we fill the God shaped hole in those moments in our heart. Hold fast to love and justice. Return to God. In this season of advent, may it be so.
In the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.