{"id":2250,"date":"2018-12-23T15:35:12","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T15:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/?p=2250"},"modified":"2018-12-23T15:35:12","modified_gmt":"2018-12-23T15:35:12","slug":"love-and-the-end-of-our-longing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/?p=2250","title":{"rendered":"Love and the End of our Longing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>One of my favorite Christmas stories comes from the book, \u201cLove\u2019s Endeavor\/Love\u2019s Expense<\/em>.\u201d [1]\u00a0<\/a>One Christmas, Eve, a Rev. Vanstone was preparing for services when he heard a noise outside the church door. It was a young alcoholic\u2014a wasted life. He helped the young man as best he could. Later, as he waited for the final service of the day he fell to sleep. While asleep, he had a dream. A rubbish collector brought a huge pile of waste, stones, cans, waste paper, and scrap metal. He asked the pastor what he was to do because there was a face at the bottom of the waste heap. The face was the face of Christ, the Son of God. The dream symbolized the love of God sitting under our lives redeeming all the waste and loss we create by sin.<\/p>\n

Our theme this Christmas is, \u201cWhat is Next?\u201d Life is not a sermon series. Sermon series come to an end. In real life, each moment, a \u201cNext\u201d arrives and a new \u201cWhat Next\u201d emerges. We always wonder what is coming next. \u00a0This morning, we celebrate the ultimate answer to the ultimate \u201cWhat\u2019s Next?\u201d What\u2019s next is the love of Jesus the Christ, the Word of God made flesh.<\/p>\n

Today we celebrate that God\u2019s self-giving love is the final end of our deepest longings. Having been a pastor for a long time, it is remarkable to me how important love is. Many emotional and moral problems that adults have in later life stem either from a lack of love or a perceived lack of love as children. The universe seems to have been created by God with a deep relationality that holds within itself the potential for love. Human beings are wired for love. We will never find true happiness until we find that love that will not let us go.<\/p>\n

The Birth of the Messiah.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our text comes at an important moment in Isaiah<\/u>. It comes as God\u2019s judgment moves to mercy in the life of God\u2019s people. Listen together for the Word of God from Isaiah<\/u>, Chapter 40, verses 28-31:<\/p>\n

Have you not known? Have you not heard?<\/strong>
\nThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0is\u00a0the everlasting God,
\nthe Creator of the ends of the earth.
\nHe does not faint or grow weary;
\nhis understanding is unsearchable.
\nHe gives power to the faint,
\nand to him who has no might he increases strength.
\nEven youths shall faint and be weary,
\nand young men shall fall exhausted;
\n\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 but\u00a0they who wait for the\u00a0Lord\u00a0shall renew their strength;
\nthey shall mount up with wings\u00a0like eagles;
\nthey shall run and not be weary;
\nthey shall walk and not faint<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Dear Lord and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, come in our hearing and our meditation to give us faith, hope and love<\/em>.Let the words from scripture be words of our hearts as Your Word convicts us, converts us, and makes us truly yours. In Jesus Name, Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Future is Always Unknown<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wondering about the future is a part of human life. We are born wishing we could know the future. All children love to try to guess what is under the Christmas tree. Some months ago, we found out that we are going to be grandparents. We are currently busy guessing the gender of our new grandbaby to be. It used to hard to know the sex of a baby. Except for wives\u2019 tales, like girls are carried higher than boys,\u201d there was no way to know. With the advent of \u201cUltrasound\u201d and other tests, all this changed. Now there is no guessing unless you want to guess, which our children so far do. Kathy and I always guessed, and I was never right, not once. This time, I am restraining myself because I am sure I will be wrong.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Other than wives\u2019 tales, Mary and Joseph had no scientific way of knowing for certain that Mary was going to have a son. (Although, the advice of angels is usually pretty accurate!) They had some idea when the baby would be born, enough to know it was soon when they started out for Bethlehem. In fact, it may be that Mary went with Joseph because they suspected the baby would come while he was away on family business. [2]<\/a>You can bet that, as they made the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, they wondered, \u201cWhat will happen next?\u201d \u00a0They did not know the future. They had to walk to Bethlehem by faith trusting God for their uncertain future.<\/p>\n

Most of the time, we have no choice but to trust God for the future. The birth of children is one of those times. No marriage is ever the same once children are born. We can wonder<\/u>that is next. We can plan<\/u>for what is next. We can hope<\/u>for what is next. But, we cannot know for certain<\/u>what is next until the time comes. Raising children (and especially teenagers) is an opportunity to wait upon the Lord while asking, \u201cWhat comes next?\u201d Life is one big wait for the future to be unfolded<\/u>.<\/p>\n

We Trust God for the Future<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a planner, and I like to plan what is coming. I have, however, learned that no one can possibly know for sure what is coming next. In this life, we cannot live by sight (knowing); we have to live by faith (trusting). Since \u201cWhat Comes Next?\u201d is a perennial question of human life, if we don\u2019t trust in the Ultimate Love of God, we will always be filled with worry. The future is simply not under our control. We have to walk by faith not by sight. The \u201cfaith\u201d we need is hard when our prayers are not answered according to our timetable or exactly in the way we hope and imagine.<\/p>\n

Mary and Joseph were in such a situation as they walked toward Bethlehem just before the first Christmas Eve so long ago. As they walked towards Bethlehem on December 23, 0000, they must have been wondering, \u201cWhen will the baby be born?\u201d \u201cWill the delivery be easy or hard\u201d \u201cWill the baby be healthy?\u201d \u201cWill it turn out that the angel was right, and our Son will be the Messiah?\u201d You can go on and on.\u00a0 Mary and Joseph had many questions. They, like us, wondered, \u201cWhat\u2019s Next?\u201d But, because they were believers, and because they knew that God is faithful, so they walked with hope towards Bethlehem.<\/p>\n

Every moment of our lives is an uncertain moment.<\/u>We don\u2019t know what tomorrow will bring. We are often concerned about the future. We are concerned about the economy, the stock market, jobs, the President, the Congress, the Courts, and especially the Cleveland Browns! There are always hundreds and thousands of things for us to worry and wonder about. Recently, the stock market has been declining just as I am about to reenter retirement. No one knows how far it will fall. Every moment of every day is an opportunity to either trust God or worry.<\/p>\n

In the midst of all of our \u201c<\/strong>wondering\u2019s in worrying\u2019s,\u201d it\u2019s a good idea to remember that those who wait upon the Lord will be given the strength and the wisdom to meet the demands of the future (Isaiah 40:31). In every area of life, we have to wait and trust God for the future.<\/p>\n

Waiting on God for the Future<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joseph waited on and trusted God for the future. As he walked towards Bethlehem, he had no idea Herod would try to kill his baby.\u00a0 He had no idea that his family was not going back to Nazareth, but instead he was going to flee to Egypt for a long time. He had no idea that he would leave his wife a widow. He had no idea that his first son would die young and leave Mary without the comfort of an oldest son to care for her. We don\u2019t know all of what was going to Joseph\u2019s mind as they traveled south to Bethlehem. What we do know is that Joseph and Mary were waiting on God and trusting that God was loving and faithful. We are no different.<\/p>\n

Every December, I read the end of Proverbs<\/u>around Christmas. Many proverbs are about planning and the limits of planning. This week, I noticed something. One ofthe proverbs for this week goes like this, \u201cThe heart of man plans his way,<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>but\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0establishes his steps\u201d<\/strong>(Proverbs 16:9) This is so true! We all have hopes, dreams, plans, and the like; however, because we cannot know what will happen tomorrow, we must have faith and hope in the love of God. God gave us minds and imagination. It is important that we use them.<\/p>\n

We need to plan. But, we do not control the future. We can only respond by living wisely, working hard, and having faith in the love of God as we wait for the future to unfold. As we wait, we can know that the God of love will give us the strength to rise up and meet the future like eagles. We may be young or old, strong or weak, in every situation, God will give us the energy and power to rise up and meet what is next. [3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Loving Others as we Wait on God<\/strong><\/p>\n

One reason our culture experiences so much hopelessness is that we have lost our transcendent hope\u2014a hope not built on human ingenuity or human work but upon the grace of One who loves us and who understands our weakness. We have lost the hope that comes from waiting on God. I am pretty sure that our politics would be less divisive and our business and economics less grasping if we really and truly trusted that God would take care of us whether our party wins, whether or not we get that new job, and whether or not we get this thing we think we want or need.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>You see, Faith and Hope are completed in love<\/u>. John tells us that, \u201cGod so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have Eternal Life<\/strong>\u201d (John 3:16). The birth Mary and Joseph received, and which we celebrate tomorrow, was a gift of Divine Love to the whole world. All the Christmas Trees, Christmas Parties, Christmas Presents, and Christmas Memories of this and every Christmas are but a small reflection of the love that God poured out on the world on that first Christmas.<\/p>\n

This is where I must make a confession. Kathy and I are hooked on Hallmark Christmas movies. Although the plots are similar, but it is always a sentimental love story, although they\u2019ve taken most of Christ out of Christmas in the stories, Story still reflect that love that God shown on the Christmas Eve so long ago. A love so great that it would die on a cross for the beloved came in human form. The world can deny his divinity, but it cannot escape his love. That great love changed and continues to change everything, even among those who deny him.<\/p>\n

The greatest thing about faith and hope is that they free us to love others. We are free from the anxiety of thinking that the outcome of our lives is totally up to us. We can relax, enjoy life, do our part (of course), all with love for others. Jesus could love other people unconditionally because of his uninterrupted fellowship with God that freed him from the fears and anxieties that warp our lives. We can love others because God loves us, and can be trusted to give us the deepest desires of our hearts in every circumstance.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tomorrow night, we come together to celebrate the Manger. It is at the Manger that we find the ultimate answer to all of our questions and the ultimate end of our waiting. What\u2019s Next this week is the birth of a baby\u2014God\u2019s gift of love\u2014whose life changes the world and us, if only we hear his call and follow Him. We wait in faith with hope and love, because \u201cLove has Come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amen<\/p>\n

Copyright 2018, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0<\/a>W.H. Vanstone, Love\u2019s Endeavor\/Love\u2019s Expense: The Response of Being to the Love of God<\/em>(London, ENG: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1977), 71.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0<\/a>Robert H. Stein, \u201cLuke\u201d in The New American Commentary: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture <\/em>Vol. 24 (Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1992), 103-111. Ordinarily, Mary would not have been required to go with Joseph to be registered to pay taxes, though there were some exceptions to the general rule. Joseph probably took her because of the prejudice against her in Nazareth or because she was due and he wanted to be present for the birth. of the reasons.<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0<\/a>Waiting for God does not mean being passive. We must work, plan, and act while we are waiting. While on the grace of God can bring us the future we hope for, we still must work for it. See, G. Christopher Scruggs, Centered Living\/Centering Leading; The Way of Light and Love<\/em>(San Antonio, TX: Book Surge, 2016). The concept of active waiting is inherent in wisdom.<\/p>\n

PS: Kathy and I want to wish all of our friends a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Year’s!\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my favorite Christmas stories comes from the book, \u201cLove\u2019s Endeavor\/Love\u2019s Expense.\u201d [1]\u00a0One Christmas, Eve, a Rev. Vanstone was preparing for services when he heard a noise outside the church door. It was a young alcoholic\u2014a wasted life. He helped the young man as best he could. Later, as he waited for the final … Continue reading Love and the End of our Longing<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CzBH-Ai","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2250"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2257,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250\/revisions\/2257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}