Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
The Music of Christmas • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
Opening & Intro
Opening & Intro
The music of Christmas is special to a lot of people.
Music in general seems to affect all of creation.
Plants respond to the stimulus of music.
Babies seem to sing before they can even talk and dance before they can walk.
We have a video of our oldest, Savannah in her diaper holding on to a foot rest and dancing her little heart out. I am not going to play it because she would hurt me when she got home.
Music is transendent. It breaks language barriers. It evokes feelings and tells us what we should feel. Music speaks to our spirit. Movies and tv shows are completely changed because of music.
(show an example)
This is why We are focusing on the music of Christmas for the next four weeks. We often sing the songs and we hear them so often and everywhere we go when was the last time we stopped to think about why the song was written and what does it really mean.
Was frosty really a metaphor for a boy and his long lost friend that only came to visit at christmas time? So he put his hurt into music to help heal his broken little heart? Or did he just make a really awesome snowman one year and so he imortalized it in a song?
We are going to look at 5 songs this season. and the first is:
Come, thou long-expected Jesus.
In 1744, Charles Wesley considered Haggai 2:7 and looked at the situation of orphans in the areas around him. He also looked at the class divide in Great Britain. Through this train of thought, he wrote "Come, Thou long expected Jesus" based upon Haggai 2:7
I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.
That verse and a published prayer at the time which had the words:
"Born Your people to deliver, born a child and yet a King, born to reign in us forever, now Your gracious kingdom bring. By Your own eternal Spirit, rule in all our hearts alone; by Your all sufficient merit, raise us to Your glorious throne. Amen."
Wesley adapted this prayer into a hymn in 1744 and published it in his "Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord" hymnal. Wesley wrote "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus" with the intent for people to remember Advent and Christmas as commemorating the Nativity of Jesus and preparing for the Second Coming.
Orphans are no small thing especially in the late 1700’s. There was not a lot of grace going around in those days, especially in Britain.
He looked at what all humans desire.
What is it we all desire as people?
Safety, food, water, shelter, relationships, to matter.
Has anyone been really hungry thirsty but you know you can’t satisy either until later?
How does it feel to know that you need something but can’t do anything about it?
Not great, right?
This is what this song is about.
Main Point
Main Point
We have a hunger and a thirst for the return of Jesus and God’s justice even if we don’t know that we do.
Why Does it Matter
Why Does it Matter
This matters because we often go searching for what we don’t know that we are missing.
Example:
Scripture
Scripture
The lyrics of "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus" focus on God choosing to give a Messiah to the world in the form of Jesus. It also focusses on the Old Testament Israelites longing for the Messiah to come and take the burden of sins from them to take them upon himself. The last line of the first verse may have come from Wesley being inspired by 17th century philosopher; Blaise Pascal's claim that "There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every person that cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator."
Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne
We start here with a plea to God. That I think resonates with us even today.
Set thy people free, we are tired from our sin and fear, please let us find rest in you.
It is that hunger to be saved. It is desire to stop trying so hard and getting nothing.
This part of the song tells us clearly that:
Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s Promise
What Promise?
“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.
“ ‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’ ”
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
A new king! The fullfillment of God’s promise to David! That promise was so much larger than they could have hoped.
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
“This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”
Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”
And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
The next part of this song reminds us:
If we believe it or not Jesus IS our ONLY hope. It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe in something. It doesn’t make it any less true.
We are spiritual creatures. We crave connection. Why? Because that’s why we were created.
When we broke our relationship with God our spirit bagan searching for Him. We were made to worship God and to have a relationship with him.
(Feeling after the Hiccups)
EVERY heart desires reconciliation with God. Weather they know it or not.
I don’t believe in turkeys… I will still get drop kicked by one...
Even today we are waiting for His return. We want His kingdom to come back.
Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
There is a reason the scoffers will come. They have the same call on their lives to repent.
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
The problem is,
Even though this happens they have the same spiritual desire for wholeness with God as those who listen to sound teaching.
THIS is what come, thou long-expected Jesus is about. That deep spiritual craving and hunger we have for God’s justice and mercy.
The final part of this song says:
We can’t do anything on our own. It is only by the works of Jesus.
It is a reminder that we only have life in Christ.
Application
Application
So, what?
Okay, I interpreted a song for you this morning.
It is more than that. This song speaks deep truth abotu who Jesus is, who we are, and what we need at our deepest levels.
The crazy thing is, it hasn’t changed.
Wesley was inspired to write it in 1744 about the jewish people of 1000 BCE and is still sung today by the people of 2021 and it is more true than ever.
So, what do we do with this?
We reflect on 3 things.
Jesus is God answer to Sin.
We have a deep spiritual need to fix our sin problem, even if we don’t believe in it.
Jesus is the only way to the throne of God.
Closing
Closing
So, next time you hear this song. Remember those three things.