Longing for Jesus

Luke 6:20-26

Two weeks ago a team from an American church visited Morocco. The senior pastor led the installation service for Tracy that Sunday. And then the rest of that week I traveled with them exploring options for future humanitarian projects in Morocco. In addition to Rabat, we looked at projects in Casablanca, Fez, Ain Leuh and Meknes. We were in Meknes at the end of our trip and I want to talk to you about an orphanage we visited there.

The orphanage sits on the top floor of a hospital where about 75 babies a year are abandoned. Of these babies, almost all of the girls are adopted. Some go to homes where they are treated as daughters but, unfortunately, most of the girls go to homes where they are raised to be house maids. This results in 99% of the children in the orphanage being boys. This top floor of the hospital holds just the children five years or younger. Another facility was bought and fixed up to house the older children.

I need to say that the orphanage is in great condition. A wealthy Moroccan lady funds the orphanage and rooms are clean and brightly painted. There are lots of toys and stuffed animals, untouched and sitting on shelves beyond the reach of the children, but they are pretty to look at. The beds are in good condition with nice sheets and blankets. The children are well dressed. The staff seems kind and attentive. It is really a very good facility.

But as nice as it is, there are too many children to receive individual attention. As I walked into the first room for children about a year old, I saw eight or nine boys, some standing up in their crib looking at us and I had an immediate, powerful reaction. I saw my grandson and granddaughter but the difference is that my grandchildren are bathed in affection and this orphanage, even though it is well maintained, cannot give the individual attention the children need. As a consequence, when we went from room to room, one of the things that was so strange is that these children did not make noise.

When I talk with my daughters they tell me of all the noise their one child makes. In these rooms of ten to twenty children, from infancy to five, there was barely a peep. There was a room of three year olds, sitting at desks rolling clay. They sat there. No one tried to get out of his seat. They said nothing. It was so sad.

If you have a young child and complain because he or she cries a lot or makes a big fuss, be grateful, it is a sign of being properly stimulated and an indication that the mind of the child is exploring his or her world.

I looked at these children and thought about how they would be at the age of 25 or 30 when they would not be so cute. These children face a very difficult life. It was so sad. I stood there holding on to the hand of a one year old and said to him in English, “It’s not your fault.”

This was difficult enough, but then at the end we went into two rooms where the handicapped children spend their day. The first room was filled with mentally handicapped children. I spent a summer when I was in seminary working with severely and profoundly retarded people and know what this life is like. But then we went into a second room where the children who suffer from cerebral palsy are kept.

Cerebral palsy is a condition that results from damage to the brain and affects the ability to move or speak. The young man on the bulletin cover is a victim of cerebral palsy.

When we stepped into the room and saw these children lying on mats on the floor, I was completely overwhelmed and had to step outside. The children in the next room who are mentally retarded are oblivious to their situation. But the problem is that these children with cerebral palsy have good minds and know their condition.

I looked in their eyes and wondered what they were thinking. They are trapped in bodies that do not allow them to function in this world. They are prisoners in their bodies facing a difficult life sentence.

When we left the hospital and drove back to Rabat in the van we had rented, there was a lot of silence. Some in the group had done a much better job than I did in moving among the children, praying with them, touching them. But all of us were hit hard by the picture of suffering we had seen.

Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the period of four Sundays preceding Christmas. As I sat in the van on the return trip to Rabat, I knew I would begin preaching in Advent about the birth of Jesus and his promised return and as I thought about it, I knew I would have to talk about what I had just seen.

If Christmas has meaning for anyone, it must have meaning for these children lying on mats who suffer from cerebral palsy. So my question today and for the next two Sundays will be to try to understand how the birth of Jesus and the promise of his return is good news for children like the boy on the cover of the bulletin, as well as good news for us.

When the angels appeared to the shepherds living out in the fields near to Bethlehem,

Luke 2:9-11

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Good news of great joy, the angels said, but what was that good news? Israel understood the good news to be that the Messiah, the Christ, would kick out the Roman occupiers and restore Israel to the grandeur it had when David had been king. But the good news was a far deeper good news than just that.

Very often, US presidential candidates announce that they are running for the office of president from the area where they were raised and in a similar manner Jesus announced the beginning of his public ministry from the synagogue where he had been raised.

Luke 4:16

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. ¹⁷ The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, ²¹ and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

If you want to know why Jesus was good news of great joy, you don’t have to look further than this text from Isaiah.

Jesus’ birth is good news for the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed.

Where do you find yourself in this list? Is the birth of Jesus good news for you?

There are some who say that becoming a Christian is very simple. You bow your head, pray a simple prayer and then you are a Christian. Is this true?

There are some Christians who share their faith story and tell of having lots of problems but then they gave their life to Jesus and now they have a nice house, a family, a good job and are looking forward to an exciting retirement. Is this the good news Jesus’ birth brings?

There are some who preach and teach that if you have enough faith, you will be healed of any disease and you will become prosperous. But is being healthy and wealthy the reason why Jesus’ birth is good news of great joy?

Do you seriously think that Jesus gave up his rights and privileges in heaven to be born as a man on earth just so you could live a more comfortable life?

Why do you think Jesus suffered and died? He was beaten and mocked. He was whipped with leather thongs with bits of bone at the ends so that his flesh was torn apart when they whipped him. His hands and feet were nailed to a wooden cross and he hung there dying a particularly painful death. Do you really think Jesus suffered in this way so you could drive a nice car or live in a nice house or have money in the bank or have some physical malady healed?

The gospel of health and wealth trivializes and mocks the suffering of Jesus. Our self-centered approach to Christian faith only skims over the surface of all that Jesus did for us.

Jesus lived and died on earth so we could be rescued from the suffering and meaninglessness of this world.

Jesus died to bring us into a better world. Jesus died to bring the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed into his eternal kingdom.

Let me remind you about his kingdom.

When the archangel, Gabriel, came to Mary to tell her she would bear a child, he talked about Jesus as a king. Gabriel said to her:

Luke 1

“Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name 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 the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Gabriel knew Jesus as the king of the kingdom of God that had long been anticipated and as Jesus grew up, he became aware of who he was as well. In the course of his public ministry when Jesus described the reason for which he came, he used the phrase kingdom of God or in Matthew’s Gospel, the kingdom of heaven, over and over again. 36 times in Matthew’s Gospel, 14 in Mark’s and 32 times in Luke’s Gospel.

So if Jesus came as king, what does that kingdom look like? The apostle John, in exile on the Isle of Patmos, received a revelation from God and at the end of that revelation, he received this picture of what the kingdom of God will be like.

Revelation 21

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

What does the kingdom of God look like? The kingdom of God is the home of God among his people. As God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, so will God live with his people. There will be no more distance. God told Moses he could not see his face and live but we will see God face-to-face.

The kingdom of God has no more death, sorrow, crying or pain. Anything that caused sadness on earth will be gone. This will be a place of eternal and unimaginable joy that nothing will be able to cloud.

The kingdom of God is a place of perfection and all those who enter will be made perfect. We will receive new bodies. Those who were blind will see; those who were lame will leap for joy; those who were deaf and mute will sing and hear the songs of praise being lifted up to the throne.

The kingdom of God is a place of peace where all those who struggled with depression and anxiety will be freed to live without restraint.

The kingdom of God is a place of justice where all those who suffered from injustice will be delivered and set free from the injustice they experienced.

The kingdom of God is what we all long for. C.S. Lewis wrote about this. He says that evidence for the kingdom of God is that we have a longing for it. We are frustrated by injustice because we expect justice. We are frustrated by disease and death because we have some expectancy that this is not the way it should be. We long for a world where we will be loved and be able to love fully and so are hurt when we are unloved. We long for a world where peace reigns and beauty abounds and are pained by the ugliness and unrest in this world. What we long for is the kingdom of God and we know it is true because it is what we long for. God has put this longing for his kingdom in our hearts.

Why is the birth of Jesus good news of great joy? Because with the coming of Jesus he brought a better world to which we can go.

What do you think? Is the kingdom of God a better world than this one?

If so, are you longing to be in that world?

In the 1960s and 70s there was a Christian singer named Pat Terry and his most famous song was titled, “I can’t wait to see Jesus”. These are the lyrics:

I can’t wait to see Jesus

In His glory as he bursts from the sky

I can’t wait to be held in his arms,

and see the glimmer in his eye

Tell me how it’s gonna be,

read it from the Bible again

I can’t wait to see Jesus,

’cause Jesus is coming again

I can’t wait to hear trumpets

’cause I know what they mean when they sound

I can’t wait to cast off my burdens,

and feel my feet leave the ground

Tell me how it’s gonna be,

read it from the Bible again

I can’t wait to see Jesus,

’cause Jesus is coming again

I can’t wait to see heaven

and to walk those streets of gold

I can’t wait to check into my mansion,

and get my sleeping bag unrolled

Tell me how it’s gonna be,

read it from the Bible again

I can’t wait to see Jesus,

’cause Jesus is coming again

How eager are you to come into his kingdom?

If the decision was yours, if you could decide when Jesus would come back, what would you decide?

Would you say right now, or fifteen minutes from now, or next month, or next year, or ten years from now or twenty or thirty?

Why would you choose anything other than right now?

Maybe you think that there are some things you would like to do before leaving this world. Do you want to get married first and then have Jesus come back? Do you want to have a child and watch that child grow up first and then have Jesus come back? Or do you want to wait further until your child gets married, has children and then watch your grandchildren grow up and then Jesus can come back? Is there someplace you have always wanted to go and then after having a vacation then it would be good for Jesus to come back?

Let me give you a list of people who would choose to have Jesus return right now: the young man with cerebral palsy on the cover of the bulletin would choose right now. Young boys and girls caught up in sex trafficking would choose right now. People caught up in a war and living in refugee shelters would choose right now. Parents who live in areas of famine and watch as their children are starving and dying would choose right now. Women and children who are being abused would choose right now.

There are some churches where the second coming of Jesus is talked about a lot and some churches where it is hardly ever mentioned. Wealthy churches rarely talk about the second coming of Jesus. Is it any surprise that many of the songs in the US about the second coming of Jesus rose up out of the poor African-American churches?

For some Christians the return of Jesus will be a great inconvenience. For others it will be a great mercy.

What about you?

If you are not longing for the return of Jesus, if the return of Jesus does not give you great hope, if your vote for when Jesus would return is not right now, then you have a spiritual problem.

If you are not longing for Jesus to come back right now, you are either too much in love with this world or your faith needs to be strengthened.

Maybe it is the thought of death that makes you hold back. If so, then you need to meditate on Paul’s words in I Corinthians 15

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

Death for a Christian is not the end but a glorious beginning. Meditate on this so you will become able to look past death and see the glorious future that awaits you.

Is it too difficult for you to let go of the things in this world that you so much enjoy? Then meditate on the most famous part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes.

Luke 6

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

²² Blessed are you when men hate you,

when they exclude you and insult you

and reject your name as evil,

because of the Son of Man.

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

²⁴ “But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

²⁵ Woe to you who are well fed now,

for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will mourn and weep.

²⁶ Woe to you when all men speak well of you,

for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

This teaching of Jesus does not mean we should set a goal to become poor, go around with sad faces and try to get people to persecute us. Suffering should never be our goal. But what Jesus taught was that those who are poor, who hunger, who weep, who are persecuted are blessed, not because of their suffering but because the kingdom of God offers such a better world.

The coming of Jesus and his return are good news of great joy to those who suffer because the kingdom of God is a better world into which they can enter.

Jesus went on to warn of the dangers of receiving the rewards of this world. It is not that money is evil or that being happy is bad or that it is evil when people say nice things about you, but the danger is that when the world rewards you, your longing for the kingdom of God becomes less intense.

It is good for us to appreciate the wonderful things God created in this world for us to enjoy but our desire and longing must be for the things to come in the kingdom of God. As soon as we begin to desire the things of this world, our longing for the kingdom of God diminishes and that is where the danger for us lies.

I struggle a lot because I take on my heart, at least in some measure, the suffering of those around me. I have a nice car, nice house, wonderful wife and children and sons-in-law and grandchildren, and money in the bank. From the world’s perspective I have it made. But I see children not receiving the care they deserve and my heart breaks. I see handicapped children and I grieve. I see those who are abused and degraded and I long for a better world for them and for me.

I want Jesus to come back right now. I want the suffering in this world to end. I wish Jesus would come back before the end of this sermon. It would be my favorite sermon for all of eternity if this would be the case.

But God has his purposes. He is moving steadily through time, waiting until his purposes are accomplished. He absorbs the suffering of this world with his love which is more powerful than all the suffering of the world. He gives the meaninglessness of this world meaning as he steadily draws men and women, boys and girls into his kingdom.

Jesus’ birth and the promise of his return is good news of great joy to people like the one on the cover of the bulletin. It is good news of great joy because the coming of Jesus means that this world will not last forever. Our suffering in this world will not last forever.

Peter wrote a letter to Christians who were being persecuted for their faith and began by giving praise to God for the salvation offered to us. And then he pointed out (I Peter 1:6)

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

The children with cerebral palsy lying on the mats will not be prisoners of their bodies forever. They will be liberated and set free.

And you too will be liberated from the suffering of this world.

In the great chapter of faith in Hebrews 11, great men of faith are lifted up: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and then the writer says about them:

Hebrews 11:16

they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Are you longing for a better country – a heavenly one? Let this be your focus this week as you read the Bible, journal and pray. If you have difficulty saying to God that it would be your vote to have Jesus come right now, then pray and ask God to work in your heart and mind to increase your faith and to long more intensely for the soon return of Jesus.

Blessed are those with cerebral palsy because they will be liberated.

And blessed are you when you long for the soon return of Jesus because the kingdom of God will be yours.

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I Thessalonians 3:12-13

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, ….. ¹³ May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.