Advent is a Time to Rethink Promises

Over the next several weeks, if you happen to watch the Headline News television network, then it is highly likely that you will see part of our apportioned giving at work. During the holiday season, the communications department of the United Methodist Church is launching a new advertising campaign called “Rethink Christmas.” (For more information visit www.umcom.org)

The purpose of this campaign is to challenge non-Christians and Christians alike to rethink what Christmas is all about. We are supporting this campaign with our giving, and I want to support this campaign using some resources and preaching points kindly supplied by Communication Resources. This morning we begin our Advent series by taking a moment to Rethink Promises. Advent is a time to rethink Promises.

Promises are part of who we are. From our birth and to our death, our lives are marked by promises. As infants our parents pledge a promise to take care of us until we are able to take care of ourselves. Many of you who were baptized as an infant had promises made unto you by your family and the church.

As children we make promises of friendship. Do any of you remember the little pinky promise rhyme? “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.” At Christmas time I know many a child who promises to be good for Santa Clause.

When we hit the teenage years we begin to make promises of love and romance. A young boy might give a high school letter jacket to his favorite girl. In the Deep South, a brazen young lad might declare promise of love in bold spray painted letters on a bridge or water tower. These are ways of promising “To you my love will be true.”

Many of you made significant promises when you became adults. Do you remember your wedding day? Do you remember promising your faithfulness and love to your husband or wife in your sacred wedding vows? As parents you make promises to take care of your children.

As adults we also make promises to other people. Do you remember purchasing your first home or car? The contract you signed was a legal promise. You promised the bank to pay for the house or car you purchased. In our employment as adults we make many promises also.

And when we grow old and draw our last breath on earth, promises are made at our deathbed and funeral. Friends and family will gather around our coffin and hear promises of eternal life and a place called heaven. Promises are part of who we are. They mark significant times in our lives.

Promises are part of who we are as Christians. The Holy Bible, the book of our faith, is a book of promises. Advent, the time of spiritual preparation before Christmas, is a time of promises. During Advent we turn to the Bible and remind ourselves of God’s promises of a Messiah.

Jeremiah chapter 33 verses 14 through 16 is one such Advent promise. In this passage of scripture God shares this word of promise:

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. 15 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. 16 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."

God selected the prophet Jeremiah to share this Advent promise with the people of Israel. When we consider the promise, one would think that it is a message of good news. However, we must take a moment to realize something about promises.

Promises are often broken just as easily as they are made.

Sadly, many parents break their promises. Instead of taking care of their children, they neglect them. The friendships and pinky promises of childhood fade away. Teenage romances often don’t last. The letter jacket is returned and county workers paint over “Johnny and Kathy forever” on the town water tower.

Do I need to even continue into adulthood? We know about the fate of many of those promises. Wedding vows are broken. In today’s economy, many of us know people who have broken promises to banks and loan holders, as home are foreclosed and cars are repossessed.

All that is left are the promises of our faith. Advent is a time to rethink the promises of our Christian faith. Will we trust what God has promised or will we not?

That was the question the people who heard Jeremiah’s Advent promise had to answer. The people who heard his message were living in a land of broken promises. The nation of God had been divided by civil war into two nations, Israel and Judah. The political leadership of both nations had led the people astray. False prophets and pagan religious leaders had led the people spiritually astray.

And now the city of Jerusalem, the city of God, was under siege. The people of God had rebelled and broken their promises to remain faithful to the God who delivered them out of the slavery and bondage of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and helped them build a nation in the Promised Land. They were now living in the land of broken promises.

If we study the Bible we learn a lot about God and a lot about people. One lesson stands out in particular, God makes promises and humans are quick to break them. We are good at breaking promises.

Advent is a good time to rethink promises. Advent is a good time to rethink the promises of God. I believe in the land of broken promises, shattered dreams, and vanquished hopes; we are in the best place to rethink the promises of God.

Men and women make promises and men and women break promises. That is one of the great lessons of life, but what about God? Does God break His promises? What do you think? Does God break promises? What does your mind say? What does your heart say? Does God break promises?

I believe that is exactly one of the questions of Advent. Not if God breaks His promises, but more appropriately, does God keep His promises? Israel had to answer that question. That had to search their faith. They had to come to a conclusion. Would they believe the prophet of God or would they believe in their own dreams and schemes.

When we look at the land Jeremiah lived in, we see a land broken promises. When we survey where human dreams and schemes lead, we see they lead to brokenness. Broken promises lead to broken people, broken families, broken religions, broken nations and a broken world.

The Advent promises say, “Remember what God promised to do. Trust God, not yourself. Trust God, not the broken leaders of this broken world. Trust God, not the broken peddlers of a corrupt broken religion. Trust God, and trust God’s promises.”

Advent is a time to rethink Promises. Advent is a time to rethink the Promises of God. Will you look at God’s promises with the same eyes that you look at the promises made to you by others? Will you hold God’s promises to the same standards as the promises made to you by a broken world? Will you trust in God’s promises the same way you trust in the promises made to you each day by broken people and broken systems? (For more information visit www.umcom.org)

Well I have good news for us today and good news for us during the Advent season. God doesn’t break promises. God keeps His word. We might fail God, but God will never fail us. If you believe that will you let me know? Do you believe that? Then say amen.

Well if you believe God keeps His promises, then how should that change the way we live?

Jeremiah told the Israelites that a new kingdom was on the way. This wasn’t going to be an Earthly kingdom built on broken promises, but a heavenly Kingdom built upon God’s eternal promises. This kingdom was not going to be ruled by a broken king. This kingdom is going to be ruled by the Messiah the Son of God. This king is going to restore the brokenness of the land by executing justice and righteousness. There will be no more broken promises with the Messiah.

Advent is a time to rethink the promises of the Messiah. Advent is a time to thank God for the Messiah born in a lowly manger in Bethlehem. Advent is a time to rethink the promises that same Messiah offers to us this day.

What are the promises of God that you need to rethink today? What are the promises of God that you need hold onto today? (Share them)

Jeremiah 29:11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

Isaiah 43:2 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Proverbs 28:13 13 No one who conceals transgressions will prosper, but one who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Hebrews 4:15 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested1 as we are, yet without sin.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Advent is a time to rethink promises and it’s a time to share promises. Will you make a promise to God today? Will you make a promise to share God’s promises with others? Will you work to bring God’s kingdom to fulfillment on Earth? Will you make a promise to trust God’s promises?