Advent; Recapture the Wonder ~ 20211128 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
11/28_1st Sunday of Advent; Recapture the Wonder (Mark 4; Matthew 6); Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20211128_advent-wonder.mp3
Recapture the wonder
When is the last time that you saw wonder in the eyes of a child, simple amazement, delight, awe?
What causes you to wonder? When is the last time you stopped to savor a sunset, or gazed up at the countless stars in the dark night sky, or stood at the brink of a precipice that caused you to simply catch your breath in stunned amazement?
This is the first Sunday of Advent, the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Advent means coming, anticipating the coming of the Christ. For the next four Sundays, my goal is not to give you new information or teach you something you don’t already know. My goal for us together is to go back and recapture the wonder. My hope is that we would regain our amazement at what this season celebrates.
Wonder and Information
We might be tempted to think that we grow up out of wonder, as if wonder is caused by immaturity or a lack of information. We learn how things work and we lose our sense of awe. We grow up and we mature out of wonder. The twinkling lights at Christmastime was an almost magical experience as a child, but now we have put childish ways behind us. Instead we think about who took the time to put up all those lights and how much electricity they use and when are we going to find the time to put up our lights, and oh, one of the strings went bad last year, I better pick up a new set if they are on sale.
L.E.D’s and Electricity
But I’d like to argue that it is not maturity or more information that causes us to lose our sense of wonder. If anything, more information should increase our wonder. Those twinkling lights, many of them today are light emitting diodes, a one-way semiconductor gate which emits light photons when a tiny amount of current passes through it. Current is the flow of electrons through a conductor or semiconductor, invisible parts of atoms pushed around by a magnetic field from an electric motor running in reverse, being turned by water or a wind turbine or steam, possibly harnessed by the heat of the sun’s rays. Electricity that may have passed through hundreds of miles of cable all to make those twinkling lights twinkle.
The Night Sky
Or consider the lights in the night sky. The closest of those lights may actually be one of the planets in our own solar system. Venus is somewhere around 25,724,767 miles away. The closest of the actual stars (Proxima Centauri) is 4.24 light-years away. By the way a light year is 5.8 trillion miles. And there are literally countless stars that we can see. And that hazy white glow behind the stars, that is our milky way galaxy, about 100,000 light years across, made up of somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 to 400 billion stars; and ours is one of an estimated 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. [https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/blog/1563/our-milky-way-galaxy-how-big-is-space/].
No, our lack of wonder is not a result of more or better information; if anything our wonder ought to increase with increased understanding.
Made to be Amazed
And we were meant to wonder. We were made to be amazed. We are commanded to stand in awe. Psalm 33 says:
Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
When we look at creation, we ought to fear the Lord and stand in awe of him. That should be our instinctive response.
Soul Sickness and the Parable of the Sower
What if our lack of wonder is actually a symptom of a sick soul? I think Jesus gives us a clue as to the root cause of our broken wonderers in his parable about the sower and the soils. Jesus tells a story of a sower who sowed seed indiscriminately. Some fell on the path, some on rocky ground, some on thorny ground, and some on good soil, which grew and produced good fruit. The seed was the word. For some, the seed was snatched away before they ever understood it. Some received the word with joy, but it was not rooted deeply, and did not survive adversity. For some, it began to grow, but was choked out by other things. And some grew and produced fruit. One fruit that the word ought to produce is joy, lasting joy, wonder, amazement; we ought to fear the Lord and stand in awe of him. But there is a disease down deep in our souls that prevents us from being filled with wonder.
Not Rooted in the Gospel
Jesus said:
Mark 4:16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.
They found joy in the gospel, but that joy was not rooted deep enough to endure a time of testing. It proved to be shallow and superficial. If our roots go down deep, if we truly grasp the gospel, we will respond with Paul:
Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Paul suffered more than any of us have. But his awe in God was so monumental that it dwarfed all his hardships so that he could call his sufferings ‘light’ and ‘momentary’ (2Cor.4:17) and ‘not worth comparing’.
It could be that our lack of wonder is a symptom of not grasping the glory of the gospel. We need to sink our roots down deep and let the simple truth that ‘while we were still sinners, Christ died for us’ (Rom.5:8) overwhelm us and amaze us.
Competing Weeds
Jesus goes on to say:
Mark 4:18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Jesus points not to a lack of information; the seed was planted. They heard the word, they had the truth, but the truth was choked out and failed to produce wonder. It was choked out by other things, competing things.
The path is the path, and rocky ground is rocky. But good soil can become weedy through neglect or inattention. Weeds compete for the same resources that allow good plants to thrive. They soak up water and absorb nutrients from the soil, they grow up and steal the energy of the sun. Weeds choke out wonder. We must be on guard against weeds.
Cares, Riches, Pleasures
So today we may need to do some weeding to make room to allow our wonder to flourish. Jesus points to three things that choke out wonder; cares and riches and pleasures. These are the things that we like to call maturity; cares and riches and pleasures. Do you have a good job, are you making enough money? What are your plans for the future? What do you really enjoy in life? Are you taking time for yourself? For the good things? You see, weeds might be bad things, but they don’t have to be. They could be good things that are allowed to grow up and choke out the main thing.
Jesus got to the heart of the issue in Matthew 6.
Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Where is your treasure? What do you most value? If what you most value is able to wear out, break or depreciate, if it is vulnerable to be taken away from you by other people, then what you treasure is not secure. It is not safe, and you’re going to have to worry about it and spend a lot of effort and time to protect it and maintain it.
In the first section of Matthew 6, Jesus warned against ‘practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them’. In your giving, in your praying, in your fasting, beware of seeking the approval of others. It is only the approval of the Father that matters. It matters who you are aiming to please.
Matthew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
It matters what captures your attention. What do you let in? What are you fixing your sights on? Is you focus single, or is it divided?
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Many people try. But Jesus says you cannot. You gotta serve somebody. Choose you this day whom you will serve.
Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 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?
How does the ‘therefore’ follow? Whose approval do you seek, where is your treasure, what is your focus, who are you serving? If you have a master, it is his responsibility to take care of your needs. Your responsibility is to do what you have been given to do. It is his responsibility to take care of what belongs to him. And he is a good Master, and he values you.
Matthew 6:27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Jesus could have said ‘how many hours does worry cost you, both in wasted time and shortened life?’ You are certainly not going to gain more time by worrying. God is good at what he does, just look around! It comes down to a matter of faith. Who are you trusting in? Who are you depending on? Do you really think that you can be self-sufficient, that you don’t need God? Or do you recognize that any ability to provide for yourself is a gift from God, that you are dependent on him, and you should thank him for it?
Matthew 6:31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Anxiety is a disease of the soul. Anxiety kills awe; worry kills worship. The cares and riches and pleasures of this life choke out our capacity for wonder. We need to be on guard against weeds.
Careless and Irresponsible?
But is Jesus telling us to be careless and irresponsible? Are we not to work and provide for ourselves? Paul goes so far as to say that if someone is unwilling to work, he shouldn’t eat (2Thes.3:10), and if someone doesn’t provide for his own family, he’s worse than an unbeliever (1Tim.5:8). So where is the balance? What is Jesus warning against?
He is not telling us to quit our jobs and ‘just trust in Jesus’. But he is warning us against cares and anxieties for things that are out of our control. We need to be reminded just how little is actually within our control. We desperately want to be in control, and we aren’t.
This is advent season; it is a time to prepare our hearts to receive our King, and to let our hearts overflow with wonder and worship. Let every heart prepare him room. What is choking out your wonder? What weeds need to be pulled? What is crowding out the King of kings in your heart this season?
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2021.11.28 Sermon Notes
1st Sunday of Advent – Recapture the Wonder
What causes you to wonder?
________________________________________________
Understanding ought to increase wonder
We were made to be amazed
Psalm 33:6-9
Lack of wonder is a symptom of a sick soul
-We must be rooted in the gospel
Mark 4:16-17; Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17
-We must clear the ground of weeds
Mark 4:18-19
Diagnosing a sick soul:
Matthew 6:1-18 – whose approval do you seek?
Matthew 6:19-21 – what do you value most?
Matthew 6:22-23 – what captures your attention?
Matthew 6:24 – who will you serve?
Matthew 6:25-30 – an issue of faith; to whom do you belong?
Matthew 6:31-34 – anxiety kills awe
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org