1 00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:06,000 Week 1 Advent Every year during the Christmas season at our 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,200 church, we gather together to wait to wait the word Advent is 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:16,840 from a Latin word and that Latin word literally means coming and 4 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,600 what it refers to is it refers to the fact that God's people in 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:24,880 the Old Testament had to practice in a posture of waiting 6 00:00:25,080 --> 00:00:28,880 for the first coming of, of Jesus and we as people who know 7 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:32,200 about the first coming of Jesus also need help waiting for the 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,640 second coming or the second advent of, of Jesus. 9 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,280 And so over the course of the next 4 weeks to kind of prepare 10 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,440 you for the coming light of Christ and Christmas, we're 11 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:44,520 going to explore this Advent sermon series. 12 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:48,600 We will explore the four traditional Advent themes, hope, 13 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:54,920 peace, joy, and love. And as we cruise through those 4 14 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,440 Advent themes, we'll also explore them with the background 15 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:01,840 concept of stubborn gladness. Stubborn gladness. 16 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:07,320 This this truth that even when we don't feel hope, feel peace, 17 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:13,480 feel joy, or feel love, we still have a stubborn gladness in the 18 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,600 midst of it that never goes away, even if that's not our 19 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:19,520 subjective experience. Stubborn gladness. 20 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:27,400 But today, week 1 is hope. So this week, when you light 21 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:33,760 that first Advent candle, if you've got kids, tell them 22 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:39,920 that's for hope. If you're alone at home, remind 23 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,920 yourself that that's for hope. The first week of Advent is a 24 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:50,440 celebration of hope. Pray with me, Father of Light. 25 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:53,520 In this Advent season, we confess that we know the 26 00:01:53,520 --> 00:02:00,280 darkness too well, the anxiety that tightens in our chest, the 27 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:04,200 depression that clouds our joy, the shame that whispers old 28 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:10,240 lies, and the hopelessness that makes the future feel thin. 29 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,280 Like Elijah under the broom tree, Meet us in our exhaustion. 30 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:21,000 Like Jacob trembling on the road to meet Esau, speak peace to our 31 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,840 anxious hearts. Like Job, who cursed the day of 32 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,920 his birth, Let your joy rise stronger than our despair. 33 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,320 Like Adam and Eve hiding in their shame, clothe us with your 34 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,800 steadfast love, Father, Son, and Spirit. 35 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:41,280 You alone, three persons and one God, are the only light in this 36 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:46,080 present darkness. You are hope where we feel 37 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:52,800 deserted, peace where we feel undone, joy where we feel 38 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,320 broken, and love when we feel unworthy. 39 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:05,520 So, Lord, make us a people of stubborn gladness, not by 40 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:10,360 ignoring our wounds, but by encountering you in them. 41 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:17,280 You are the light that refuses annihilation, and all God's 42 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,840 people prayed. Amen. 43 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:21,920 If you're able, let's go ahead and stand for the reading of 44 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:32,880 First Kings. Chapter 19 beginning in verse 45 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:39,600 one, Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had 46 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:41,440 killed all the prophets with the sword. 47 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:43,600 So what's going on here is Elijah is the prophet who 48 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,200 defeated the the false prophets of the Pagan God Baal. 49 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:49,240 So that just happened. That was right before the story. 50 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,840 And notice this, Elijah's faithfulness doesn't solve his 51 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,160 problems. What's his faithfulness do 52 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:00,000 creates more problems. Look at verse 2. 53 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,560 Then Jezebel, queen over Israel, sent a messenger to Elijah 54 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:09,040 saying, so may the gods do to me and more also, if I don't make 55 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,880 your life as the one, as the life of one of them by this time 56 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,880 tomorrow, In other words, Jezebel saying I'm going to kill 57 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,079 you, there's a death warrant out for Elijah right now. 58 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,920 So naturally Elijah was afraid, and he arose and he ran for his 59 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:25,280 life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah. 60 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,480 And he left the servant there. But he himself went a day's 61 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:31,520 journey into the wilderness. And he came and sat down under a 62 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:36,320 broom tree, symbolic for having a personal collapse and 63 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,680 meltdown. And he asked that he might die, 64 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:46,640 saying, It's enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no 65 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:51,080 better than my father's. This is the profound paradox of 66 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,240 being a human being. Elijah is so afraid of dying 67 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,840 that he wants to die. And he laid down, collapsed and 68 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:01,760 slept under a broom tree. And behold an Angel touched him 69 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:05,160 and said to him, arise and eat. And he looked and behold there 70 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:10,120 was an Angel. And at his head a cake was baked 71 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,920 on hot stones in a jar of water. And he ate and drank and laid 72 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:16,920 down again. Dude was just hangry and needed 73 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:18,840 a nap. Weirdly relatable. 74 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,320 And the Angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched 75 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:27,720 him and said arise and eat, for the journey is too great for 76 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:31,800 you. And he arose and ate and drank 77 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,760 and he went in the strength of that food, 40 days and 40 nights 78 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:38,760 to Hora, the Mount of God. This is important. 79 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,600 This is really important here. Mount Ora is the exact same 80 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,440 mountain as Mount Sinai. Those are two different names 81 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:46,800 for the same mountain. So this is signaling something 82 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:48,720 to you right now. I know you're a close and 83 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:50,040 careful reader and thoughtful reader. 84 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,960 So right now, as a thoughtful reader, you're thinking, oh, 85 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:56,400 just like God revealing himself to Moses on Mount Sinai with 86 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:58,760 Thunder and lightning and the earthquaking. 87 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,440 As the careful reader that you are, you're thinking that's 88 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,080 what's going to happen. It's going to be Mount Sinai 89 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:06,720 again. But Elijah's not excited about 90 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:08,760 the prospect of meeting with God, so it takes a detour. 91 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,440 Verse 9 there he came to a cave and instead lodged in it. 92 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:15,240 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and he said, what 93 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,200 are you doing here? Elijah supposed to be on Sinai 94 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:25,240 or. And Elijah says, I have been so 95 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:30,720 very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, you and the people 96 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:35,160 of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your 97 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,960 altars and killed your prophets with the sword. 98 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:44,360 And I, the good Christian, even I only am left and they seek my 99 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,320 life to take it away. So what's Elijah saying? 100 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:48,880 He's saying I don't want to meet with you God. 101 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,200 I don't want to. I've been a good Christian even 102 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:56,760 when no one else was. And all my faithfulness has done 103 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:03,000 is create more problems. So he hides out in a cave and 104 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,240 God gently gives the one commandment that we see in this 105 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:11,840 entire story, Get near God. He said, go and stand on the 106 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:13,880 mountain before the Lord. That's the one command. 107 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:17,560 Get near God and behold Mount Sinai. 108 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:21,400 Moment the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the 109 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,840 mountains and broken pieces the rocks before the Lord, like 110 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:33,880 Moses and Mount Sinai. But the Lord was not in the 111 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,800 wind. And after the wind there was an 112 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:40,200 earthquake like Moses on Mount Sinai, a powerful revelation of 113 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:45,480 God with an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the 114 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,640 earthquake. And after the earthquake of 115 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:56,320 fire, like Moses on Mount Sinai, a powerful demonstration of the 116 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:58,800 glory of God. That is visible, right? 117 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,840 But the Lord was not in the fire. 118 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:11,480 And after the fire, the sound of a low whisper. 119 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:15,400 What in the actual heck is going on here? 120 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:25,320 You guys can have a seat. What in the actual heck is going 121 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:26,480 on here? Let's start with the mental 122 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:31,040 state of Elijah. What state of mind is Elijah in? 123 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:33,720 And the answer to that question is it's not good. 124 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:40,159 In verse four, he says, he says he asked that God might die and 125 00:08:40,159 --> 00:08:43,760 said, I've had enough. Take away my life. 126 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,080 I'm no better than my father. So the word for Elijah's mental 127 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:49,800 state right now, the word for his condition is really simple. 128 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:52,840 What he's experiencing is hopelessness. 129 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:58,560 He has no hope. He does not see a future where 130 00:08:58,560 --> 00:09:02,200 his life gets better. He does not see a future where 131 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:04,240 the people of God become more faithful. 132 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:08,080 And I think the sharpest point of this blade right here is 133 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:10,480 this. I don't think hopelessness 134 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:14,560 happens to Christians when bad things happen after we do bad 135 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:16,920 things. That makes like our spiritual 136 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,680 mental model of what spiritual life should be is if bad things 137 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:24,320 happen to me after I sin, that makes sense. 138 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,680 That probably should happen. But if I did good things, then 139 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:32,080 good things would happen, right? When that happens, our mental 140 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:34,000 models of spirituality don't really collapse. 141 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:36,480 What happened? How do they collapse it? 142 00:09:36,680 --> 00:09:39,720 It collapses. Hopelessness takes root in the 143 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:43,160 Christian heart precisely when it feels like bad things happen 144 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:47,000 to us because of our faithfulness. 145 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:51,840 That's when it feels like, OK, so 2 + 2 doesn't equal 4. 146 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,320 Then what is true about life? That's when life becomes 147 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,280 confusing and disorienting. Feeling punished for his 148 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:03,000 faithfulness is precisely what drives Elijah under the broom 149 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:03,960 tree. To say what? 150 00:10:04,680 --> 00:10:11,600 First four take away my life? Just pull the plug. 151 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:16,120 Just put me out, right? If any counselor or therapist 152 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,160 we're meeting with Elijah underneath the broom tree right 153 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:23,000 now, the diagnosis would be simple hopelessness, 154 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:27,080 hopelessness. Speaking of which, let's talk 155 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:28,960 about pop psychology for just a hot minute. 156 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:32,600 I'm an advocate for therapy and medications at proper doses 157 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:34,040 administered by the proper people. 158 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:37,080 It's really important for you to hear me say that upfront. 159 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:42,120 It seems like what therapy does really well is it's helpful when 160 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:46,000 it gives language to otherwise sub articulate emotional 161 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,200 experiences. Counseling therapy does a really 162 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:51,120 good job at that. People will experience that and 163 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:55,400 say, hey, I'm experiencing trauma because X happened to me, 164 00:10:56,080 --> 00:11:02,000 that's helpful. Or I behave this way because my 165 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,560 family of origin was like this or that. 166 00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:07,880 Or in Elijah's case, I'm experiencing the trauma of a 167 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:11,760 death warrant right now because of my faithfulness to God. 168 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,840 I think that's helpful, giving language and naming things. 169 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,800 It's helpful because it gives you a sense of control somewhat 170 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:24,720 over your inner experience. And there are limitations to pop 171 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:28,080 psychology. It's very helpful. 172 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,400 I'm an advocate for it. It's a tool in the hand of God, 173 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,360 and it has limitations. And the limitation is this. 174 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,800 Giving language and naming things is very helpful, but it 175 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:45,160 doesn't solve the problem. It becomes unhelpful when it 176 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,200 convinces you that just because you can psychologize your 177 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:50,560 problems means you've solved them. 178 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:57,760 No, because at root you are a spiritual being designed to be 179 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,240 in communion with God. And what does that mean? 180 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:05,480 That means that all of our problems, hopelessness included, 181 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:08,640 are not at root pop psychology problems. 182 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:18,840 They are proximity problems, or in other words, you are not a 183 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:26,600 problem to be solved. You are a person who needs to be 184 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:32,280 placed in the presence of God. That doesn't mean there's not 185 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:40,320 practical helps, right? For instance, our text, God 186 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:45,440 feeds Elijah twice and gives him two naps, right? 187 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:47,760 That's helpful. He should do that. 188 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:51,600 While this is a spiritual problem Elijah's facing, God's 189 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,960 also like you're a little hangry and you need a nap. 190 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:59,800 That's helpful to recognize. But what's the true diagnosis 191 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:03,360 underneath the symptoms? The most urgent need of this 192 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:12,560 hour for Elijah is for Elijah to encounter God, particularly for 193 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:15,800 him to hear God. Isn't that what God does in the 194 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:19,080 story? Just listen to verse 11. 195 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:22,560 What's the that's the condition? That's the condition of Elijah 196 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,040 hopeless. What's God's response? 197 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:30,480 Verse 11 And God said, Go out and stand on the mountain before 198 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:33,320 the Lord, and behold, this is so profound. 199 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,800 The Lord passed by in a great strong wind, tore the mountains 200 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:38,800 and broke into pieces the rocks before the Lord. 201 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:41,600 But the Lord was not in the wind. 202 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,480 And after the wind and earthquake, but the Lord was not 203 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,440 in the earthquake. And after the earthquake of 204 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:52,120 fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. 205 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:57,520 The revelation of who God is to Elijah is not something that 206 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:03,360 Elijah can see. It's something he can hear. 207 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:11,360 After the fire, the sound of a low whisper. 208 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:19,360 Where's God in the story? Not in something you can see. 209 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:25,320 Where's God in the story? He's in something you can hear. 210 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:29,160 Now, is this profound? Yeah, I think so. 211 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,920 Is it existentially true? Yeah, I think so. 212 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:35,640 Like, imagine you're in a room and there's a bunch of people in 213 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:38,040 the room and everybody's angry and they're yelling at each 214 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:40,560 other and people's voices are just rising and rising and 215 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:43,240 everybody's getting more angry. Everybody in the room is angry 216 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:52,000 besides one person who speaks in a calm, hushed voice. 217 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:57,720 Where does your attention go? Who probably has the truth? 218 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:01,320 The person whispering in the angry world. 219 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:03,680 That's why God whispers in an angry world. 220 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,920 It's poetic, but it's first and foremost theological. 221 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:12,640 It actually teaches us something about the way that God tends to 222 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:20,800 reveal himself in the world. I'm going to need the help of a 223 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,520 good buddy of mine, theologian Carl Bart. 224 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:26,440 I went to high school with him. That's not true. 225 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:29,360 I shouldn't have said that. He's a 20th century Swiss 226 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:31,920 theologian who I have some profound disagreements with, but 227 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:34,200 he's brilliant and I want to pick his brain on this a little 228 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:38,360 bit. Bart is hard to understand, so 229 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:41,320 I'm going to put you in Carl Bart's brain for the next two 230 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:42,840 minutes. If you give it your best 231 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:44,840 intellectual effort, I think you'll understand. 232 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:50,280 Oh, that's why God reveals himself in a low whisper in an 233 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:51,520 angry world. Here's what. 234 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:57,240 Here's what Bart says. Bart says the God of the Bible 235 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:03,280 is the God who speaks in ways that man does not expect. 236 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:11,880 Elijah doesn't expect a whisper, he expects Moses's Mount Sinai. 237 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:16,560 And so Bart elaborates a little bit more elsewhere by saying 238 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:23,520 God's revelation contradicts all human experiences. 239 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:28,560 He is not where man looks for him, right? 240 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:33,000 We want him to be in the fire, in the earthquakes, in the 241 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:37,000 Thunder, in the miracles, in the fantastic experiences of life. 242 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:40,920 And sometimes he is. That's not just, it's just not 243 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:45,080 his normal mode of revelation, right? 244 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:52,080 Here's Bart again. Bart says in his revelation, God 245 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:58,880 is the humble one, and this is the mystery of his deity, right? 246 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:04,240 What's a whisper? A whisper is humility of speech. 247 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:11,839 It's non threatening, non impressive, non overwhelming. 248 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:17,640 You can imagine Elijah straining himself to hear it, probably 249 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:22,720 barely even audible. And yet it's the true revelation 250 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:28,079 of who God is. The whisper here. 251 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:32,520 And this is exactly where this becomes anonymous sermon right 252 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:34,560 here. The whisper here is not just a 253 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:40,480 sound passing over God's lips to our ears, right? 254 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:42,240 The whispers, not just an audible sound. 255 00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:43,840 This is Carl Bart for the last time. 256 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:49,240 Then we'll be out of his brain. Bart says God ultimately reveals 257 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:56,640 himself in his concealment because he is exalted in his 258 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:01,040 lowness. Does that sound like anybody to 259 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:04,280 you? Do you know anybody who has ever 260 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:06,800 said my heart is gentle and lonely? 261 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,040 And if you do, do you see where I'm going with this? 262 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:13,720 You see where Bart's going with this? 263 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:19,720 Here's here's what's happening. This text foreshadows the first 264 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:21,600 advent or the first coming of Jesus. 265 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,520 There's a reason why Jesus is referred to as the word of God, 266 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:32,000 the spoken word of God. Jesus is Jesus is the true 267 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:37,200 gentle whisperer. Jesus is God's whisper with 268 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:42,640 flesh on. Jesus is God's whisper with arms 269 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:44,320 and legs. That's why the Bible calls him 270 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:47,640 the Word of God. Jesus comes his incarnation, his 271 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,600 first advent. It is a whisper in a noisy 272 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:53,040 world. He's a vulnerable child wrapped 273 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:55,480 in flesh. That's a whisper. 274 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:02,200 He's he's put in a humble, lowly Manger while everyone else was 275 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,280 looking for a War Horse. That's a gentle whisper. 276 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,760 He's in a Carpenter shop shop rather than a King's earthly 277 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:11,560 throne. That's a gentle whisper. 278 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:16,000 And what's his ultimate whisper? The least likely place anybody 279 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:17,680 would ever look for him on planet earth. 280 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:21,040 The ultimate whisper of God is death on a cross. 281 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,560 Here's what I'm saying. The whisper in Elijah's cave is 282 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:28,200 God rehearsing the way that he's ultimately going to come. 283 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:34,440 In Jesus first Advent, you see that this is profound because 284 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:38,880 what what the gospel shows us again is that you are not 285 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:40,400 ultimately a problem to be solved. 286 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:44,040 And yes, God feeds him. Yes, God gives him a nap. 287 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:46,720 And yes, if you read the rest of the story in First kings, which 288 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,760 I think you should, God does change his circumstances 289 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:51,560 afterwards. He promises a faithful remnant 290 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:55,080 of Israel, takes a delegates a little bit of of his his 291 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:57,440 problems off of him and changes his circumstances. 292 00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:58,920 It's just not the main point of the story. 293 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,080 The main point of the story is that Elijah is not a problem to 294 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:06,160 be solved. He's a person who needs to get 295 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,840 in the presence of God. And when you get this, you can 296 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:14,440 experience stubborn gladness, what the Bible calls being 297 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:17,960 sorrowful yet always rejoicing, right? 298 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:22,760 It's why Paul can be in jail in the New Testament and still tell 299 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:25,800 people, count all your trials as joy. 300 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,960 You can have a stubborn gladness even when your circumstances are 301 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:35,720 terrible. It's like I think if I had to 302 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:39,240 pick one thing that sees the worst version of me and the 303 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:44,400 worst side of me, it's printers. I don't know. 304 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:47,200 I don't know what my relationship with my 305 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:48,840 relationship with printers is so bad. 306 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:52,120 Printers. I have no patience for printers. 307 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:53,200 I don't know if you're the same way. 308 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,320 I expect them to work on the first time and if they don't, 309 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,360 I'm ready to go full office space on them like baseball bat 310 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,840 and everything. So last night, last night I was 311 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:05,800 actually trying to print my sermon and I had print problems. 312 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:10,120 I'm trying to print my sermon and my my printer says there's 313 00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:13,200 no paper. I look in the printer, what's 314 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,320 there paper? So I try to print it again, it 315 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:21,840 says there's no paper. I look at what's there paper. 316 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,880 Paper is objectively in the printer. 317 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:30,680 The printer is subjectively not experiencing it and so I want to 318 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:35,600 throw it out the window and I don't praise God saved you a 319 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,840 couple 100 bucks in the church budget this year. 320 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:40,600 I don't throw it out the window. Instead I Google what the 321 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:44,200 problem is and I wrote it down. It turns out that this is a 322 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,640 pretty common experience. What was wrong was an optical 323 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,320 sensor problem. There's an optical sensor in 324 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:54,440 there that had dust on it. It was like, try blowing on it, 325 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:58,840 picked it and I so I opened it and I blew on it and then it 326 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,720 worked. So apparently there was dust on 327 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,000 the optical sensor. There was an optical sensor 328 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,880 problem. Paper was objectively in it. 329 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,800 The printer did not subjectively experience it because of an 330 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,840 optical sensor problem. Humans have an optical sensor 331 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:21,560 problem, but there's dust on your sensor inside. 332 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:26,080 You as a Christian are filled objectively with the joy of the 333 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:29,240 Lord. Jesus calls it the Joy John 16 334 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:35,560 that no man can steal. You objectively have joy 335 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,240 dwelling in you and subjectively, a lot of times you 336 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:41,360 don't experience it. What is that? 337 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,520 That's an optical sensor problem filled with the joy of Lord but 338 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:49,120 not detecting it. Because ultimately joy is not an 339 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:51,040 emotion, even though I think emotions are important. 340 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:54,480 Joy is not an experience, even though I think that's important. 341 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:59,240 Joy is ultimately rootedness in the presence of the joyful One, 342 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:01,960 God. And when you get that, it can 343 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:05,360 fill you with a stubborn joy, even when you don't taste it 344 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:07,160 right. This is one of the great 345 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,760 mysteries of being a Christian is when you get this, you 346 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,480 understand the relationship between your identity and the 347 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:18,520 word of gods, namely, that you are not your thoughts. 348 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:25,240 Those are important, but they just float by you. 349 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:29,280 They'll be gone in a couple hours. 350 00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:34,040 You are not your feelings. Those are important. 351 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,080 But what do feelings do They pass through you. 352 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:41,400 So if you're not your thoughts and you're not your emotions, 353 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,800 what are you? And the Bible is so clear. 354 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:50,400 You are what God says about you. You are what the word of God has 355 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,000 made you. This profoundly matters. 356 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:56,240 This means that the next time you experience hopelessness, you 357 00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:59,080 have the power to say I'm not hopeless. 358 00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:01,840 Hopelessness is simply passing through me. 359 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,920 You have you have the opportunity the next time you 360 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,120 have suicidal ideation like Elijah, you can say I am not 361 00:24:10,120 --> 00:24:12,880 that thought. It's just passing through me. 362 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:17,040 And what this does is it doesn't take the pain away, but it does 363 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,680 help you detach from the experience of it a little bit, 364 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:24,000 gives you an objective foothold where you can say, this is not 365 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,600 who I am. I am what the Word of God makes 366 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:28,400 me. I am what the whisper of God 367 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,040 says to me. I'm a beloved child, purchased 368 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:34,400 by God, paid for by the Son, filled with the joy of the 369 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:36,560 Spirit. That's the truest thing about 370 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:39,280 you. If you're a Christian, you know 371 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:43,640 how I know it's the truest thing about you because every other 372 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:46,360 aspect of your life, it's temporary. 373 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:52,480 It's temporary. You're not sad, you are just 374 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:55,400 temporarily experiencing sadness, and that's an important 375 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,960 experience. It's not your identity, though. 376 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:03,440 You're not depressed, you're temporarily experiencing 377 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:05,880 depression. Those things, even if they are 378 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:10,720 lifelong afflictions, will be true about you for such a short 379 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:19,240 time compared to the light of eternity, which what are you? 380 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:23,360 Are you the thing that happens to you for this long or are you 381 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:25,560 the thing that's going to happen to you for this long? 382 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,800 Cause sorrow and sadness are real experiences. 383 00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:32,280 Do you know how long the last you though compared to eternity 384 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:36,040 this much? And look at this that that's an 385 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,280 exaggeration. That's like when you buy the the 386 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:42,160 bag of Doritos and on the front they've got a massive Dorito, 387 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,960 but they legally have to put in text next to it. 388 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,520 This has been enlarged and isn't scaled to size. 389 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,840 This has been enlarged. Your experience of sadness and 390 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,200 sorrow, though it feels like forever and lifetime is like 391 00:25:56,360 --> 00:26:00,000 that much. Your experience of the joy of 392 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:04,800 the Lord that much So which one are you? 393 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,680 Are you this? Are you this? 394 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:10,840 And of course, the answer is you're this. 395 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,280 You're what God says about you and who God makes you for 396 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,240 eternity. And when you get that, you can 397 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:21,360 experience stubborn gladness. I stole that. 398 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,040 I stole that from one of my favorite poems by Jack Gilbert. 399 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:34,480 Gilbert says we must have the stubbornness to accept our 400 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:39,960 gladness even in the furnace of this world. 401 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:46,600 We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness even in the 402 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,200 furnace of this world. I think that's good news. 403 00:26:50,120 --> 00:26:55,040 Jesus is coming back, Amen. And when he and when he comes 404 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:59,960 back in his second Advent, he will come back as a shout. 405 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:05,080 He will come back with fire and Thunder and lightning and 406 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:09,240 justice. So this Advent, get right with 407 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,760 the whisper of God so that you do not have to face the shout of 408 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,680 God. Heavenly Father, thank you for 409 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:22,360 your incredible ways of revealing yourself in the world 410 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:24,040 in ways that we just never would expect. 411 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:28,240 I just think it's such a poetic, beautiful, brilliant story to 412 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:33,120 see you reveal yourself in the lowly whisper of God. 413 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:42,880 I so often want you to reveal yourself in different ways. 414 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:49,120 Sometimes I even put you in hostage situations and say 415 00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:53,120 foolish things like, God, do this big thing for me and then 416 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:54,800 I'll trust you with my whole heart. 417 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:02,520 But you love to reveal yourself in the little things, Lord, the 418 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:07,520 incarnation of yourself into an unexpected little baby, the full 419 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:10,840 revelation of yourself on the cross, crucified in the place of 420 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:15,240 a center. You reveal yourself in gentle 421 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:18,040 whispers, maybe even in snowstorms. 422 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:26,320 And so, Lord, I pray this Advent season, as we light candles and 423 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:31,680 celebrate and remember the first advent of Jesus, I pray that we 424 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:39,720 would listen closely for your gentle whisper. 425 00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:43,080 It's in the precious name that all God's people prayed. 426 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:46,440 Amen. Let's stand together.