You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
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Like many of you, I love the Christmas season.
I love the celebrations, the music, the traditions, everything that goes along with Christmas.
I try to pack as much of that as I can into the month of December.
And I usually find myself exhausted even before staying up all night on Christmas Eve.
For others of us, Christmas is painful and hard for a variety of reasons.
We just want to get it over with and get to the new year.
Regardless of which one of those groups you would put yourself in.
And whether we're rushing to get it over with or packing the calendar with Christmas festivities,
most of us struggle to allow the story of Christmas to penetrate and deeply impact our hearts.
For some reason, it's just one of those things that's really tough for us.
And it's so vital that that happened because our hearts, those deepest emotions and affections,
that they shape who we are and how we approach all of life each day.
Our hearts control the rest of our lives, right?
How we speak.
How we spend our time.
How we make our priorities.
How we engage with others.
And so it's vital for us to let God's Word address and shape our hearts.
And I think it's particularly important with the message of Christmas.
The fact that the incarnation of the very Son of God Himself,
the coming of Christ to earth to rescue enemies of God like us
and make them His sons,
it has to impact us at the deepest levels of our heart.
It must.
But it's so easy to miss.
So over the next few weeks, we're going to look at Christmas and our hearts.
Let every heart prepare Him room.
Every heart.
That means hearts busy with Christmas merriment
and hearts just ready to rush past it and get it over with.
We're just going to try together to slow down.
Not merely to learn some more things,
but actually to experience together the impact of the coming of Christ.
To have His birth address the range of emotions that we experience day in and day out,
year-round, not just at Christmastime.
Now, I know that to a room full of a lot of engineers
or a lot of Type A personalities like myself,
the idea of spending multiple weeks addressing our hearts and the emotions there is a little risky.
I feel that.
Some of you are ready to leave now.
But we need this.
Y'all, we have to have the reality of the incarnation of God impact our hearts.
God has worked on my heart so richly and deeply as I've prepared the past few weeks.
And I'm excited to get to share in this
and in some of these glorious passages we're going to look at over the next few weeks.
So let's pray together for this time in God's Word.
And then we'll talk this morning about longing and hope from Isaiah 11.
Pray with me.
Father, we come to Your Word and we're thankful
that it is living and active.
That it penetrates dividing joint and marrow to our very hearts
to show us the thoughts and the intentions of our hearts.
We thank You for that, but honestly, sometimes we don't like that.
We'd rather keep Your Word and even You at arm's length.
Oh, Holy Spirit, don't let our hearts do that this morning.
Would You mold our hearts as we come to the Word of God and open it together.
You, Holy Spirit, soften our hearts.
Shape them as You would have them to be
that we might know more and love more our great God.
Would You do that work in each of us for Your glory?
We ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Many of us have visited the beautiful mountains of East Tennessee.
glorious forests like this one in Gatlinburg.
We've vacationed there, enjoyed the beauty and the grandeur.
And so we watched this week with great sadness, didn't we?
As reports came back of forest fires.
Devastation that was going on in the Gatlinburg area
and the areas around there.
Buildings, homes, neighborhoods, and forests decimated by the blaze.
Basically, beautiful, glorious places brought to nothing overnight.
Those beautiful forests we've seen reduced to smoldering stumps.
Pictures that you see discouraging and lifeless and hopeless.
Well, that's the context of Isaiah chapter 11, actually.
God has spoken of His people Israel and other nations as well
as mighty forests that He has decimated swiftly.
He's reduced them to stumps, as it were.
They are seemingly lifeless and hopeless at the end of Isaiah chapter 10,
brought to nothing.
And to that very hopelessness,
He brings this hope through the prophet Isaiah chapter 11 at verse 1.
This is God's holy word.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.
And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together,
and a little child shall leave them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.
In that day, the root of Jesse,
who shall stand as a signal for the peoples,
of him shall the nations inquire,
and his resting place shall be glorious.
Amen.
What a beautiful passage.
What a glorious, hopeful prophecy.
But the passage starts
describing God's people as a stump.
As I said, they've been described as a forest,
now decimated.
And they've been longing, haven't they,
to be who they were created and called to be,
as God's glorious image bearers,
his treasured people,
a kingdom of priests to be a light to the nations.
This is who they are to be.
That's the longing that the people of God have been experiencing for generations.
I want us to explore that longing for just a couple minutes.
For our purposes this morning,
I'll describe longing as our deep desire for true fulfillment.
For things to be as they should be.
You see, for God's people in Isaiah's day,
this longing that they have is not a recent development, is it?
You can go all the way back to Eden,
to the garden,
where God creates people to live in this wonderful relationship with Him
and to reflect His glorious image,
but they fall.
They're banished from the garden,
having broken their relationship with God
and brought themselves and the rest of His good creation under a curse.
Things don't work the way they should.
And even there in the garden,
there's the promise of the offspring who will come,
all the way back in Genesis.
A seed who's going to come from the woman
and crush the head of the serpent.
He's going to fix that broken relationship.
And so, God's people wait
and long for things to be as they should be.
For the curse to be broken.
For blessing to come again.
Just this fall,
Cubs fans finally experienced the breaking of their curse.
Finally, after 108 years of losing,
they finally won the World Series again.
108 years.
That's a long time, right?
Year after year.
Imagine if you're not a Cubs fan.
Pick your own team.
The disappointment.
The expectations let down.
Things not going the way you planned.
For some Cubs fans,
for their entire lifetime,
this happens.
No World Series victory.
But for God's people here,
waiting even longer than 108 years.
Generations and generations waiting
for the curse to be broken
and promised blessing
to make things right again.
And that blessing is spoken again to Abraham.
But then God's people,
Abraham's descendants,
spend generations in Egypt.
Not feeling blessed,
but enslaved and oppressed
and seemingly abandoned by God.
It wasn't supposed to be like that, right?
God had promised blessing to Abraham
and his descendants.
We were going to be the ones on top.
He was going to take us to the promised land
and he was going to be our God
and fight for us.
And yet they're far away
in every way.
They're longing to be delivered
and for things to be as they should be.
And they do get to the promised land.
But even after they settle in the promised land
and blessing is promised to David
and his royal descendants forever,
they experience the pain of exile,
don't they?
Evil kings and evil people
removed from the promised land again.
Taken away.
They're beginning to doubt
the promises of God.
A sense of desperation
beginning to build.
This is not the way
we were promised it would be.
Longing for it to be right again.
When will it ever change?
And all of that is tied up
in the picture of the stump
of Jesse.
The crushed,
defeated,
dejected nation.
Longing generation after generation
for centuries
for things to be made right.
In many ways,
that prolonged desperation
is the essence
of the Advent season,
isn't it?
As we await
and long for Christmas,
the coming of Christ
to make things right.
Already this week,
my four-year-old
came downstairs
the morning
after we had decorated
our home for Christmas.
And she ran immediately
to her stocking
and grabbed it
and looked in
and said,
there's no gifts
in my stocking, mom.
Something's wrong.
That's not the way
it's supposed to be,
is it, kids?
Stockings are meant
to be full
of wonderful,
happy things.
And Christy told me
that story
and I thought,
oh, it's going to be
a long December.
It's not there.
Things aren't right.
And so it's waiting
and waiting
for Christmas.
But while that longing
is there in a child
in that kind of
comical sense,
it's something
that we all experience
deep in our hearts,
isn't it?
Christians,
atheists,
agnostics,
all of us
at times feel
this deep sense
of being made
to be a glorious forest,
but experiencing
life feeling
much more like
a smoldering
stump.
It happens
so often
that we've got
a category
for it.
We sometimes
call it a midlife
crisis.
A longing
for my body
to work
like it used to.
A longing
to do something
that really matters.
Perhaps coupled
with a deep
doubt that
I'm actually
capable of that.
I long
to be truly
significant,
but I struggle
to believe
that I really am.
Maybe you would
describe your longing
as an ache.
An ache
because you
feel perhaps
the absence
of a loved one
that leaves you
feeling always
a little empty,
never quite fulfilled.
Maybe you long
for freedom
from a lifelong
struggle.
A battle
with sin
maybe.
A fight
with addiction.
A battle
within yourself.
Maybe the honest
truth is
you just feel
like your life
is not
what it's
supposed to be.
Certainly
not what you
always pictured
it would be.
You don't
like it.
If you're
honest,
you struggle
to like
yourself.
You don't
find deep
purpose
and significance
in anything.
You're really
just longing
for something
to be different
but you're
not even
certain
what it is.
But that
lack of
fulfillment
just gnaws
at you
constantly.
It comes up
again and then
you ignore it
and you go on
and it comes
back and
I just don't
feel
important.
You feel
you were made
for something
more than
this.
Why aren't
things as
they should
be?
Ever?
And so
we wait.
Day after
day.
Sometimes
year after
year.
Through
seasons of
our lives
with this
ache and
with these
deep longings
in our
heart to
be mighty
trees in a
glorious
forest and
feel like
we're part
of something
even bigger
than ourselves
but with
lives that
feel like
smoldering
stumps.
Unfulfilled.
Most days
hopeless.
One of my
very favorite
things about
Isaiah 11
is that it's
right there.
Right there
in those very
low and
dark and
hopeless
places.
It's right
there in one
of those
hopeless
stumps
that hope
grows.
It's not
from some
nation that's
mighty and
controlling
others and
achieving great
victories.
It's not
from some
other person
who really
does have
life together
and seems
to have
things figured
out and
that's where
hope is.
it's not
in either
of those
places.
But rather
it's in the
stump of
Jesse.
Verse 1
There shall
come forth
a shoot
from the
stump of
Jesse.
A branch
from his
roots shall
bear fruit.
A small
shoot appears
from the
stump.
There's hope
that is
promised.
The shoot
is coming
up from
what was
hopeless.
just minutes
or days
ago.
Hope is
promised.
Christmas.
The Christ
is coming
to make
things as
they should
be.
That's the
promise of
Isaiah 11.
The promised
one.
The anointed
one.
The Messiah.
He brings
hope.
Look at what
the rest of
the passage
says about
what he will
be and
do.
At first
he will
bring a
righteous
rule.
Verse 2
The spirit
of the Lord
shall rest
upon him.
The spirit
of wisdom
and understanding.
The spirit
of counsel
and might.
The spirit
of knowledge
and the fear
of the Lord.
His delight
shall be
in the fear
of the Lord.
As a result
what does
it look like
under his
rule?
He'll judge
not by
what his
eyes see
or what
his ears
hear
but with
righteousness
he shall
judge
the poor.
With
equity
he'll decide
for the
meek
of the
earth.
He's going
to strike
the earth
with the
rod of
his mouth.
With the
breath of
his lips
he'll kill
the wicked.
How?
Why?
Because
righteousness
is the
belt of
his waist
and faithfulness
the belt
of his
loins.
That is
his very
essence.
That's what
that means.
That's who
he is at
the deepest
part of
who he is
righteous
and faithful.
faithful.
No more
idolatrous
kings.
No more
leaders who
oppress the
poor to
cement their
own power.
No more
injustice
for the
people.
A king
is coming
whose very
essence
is righteousness.
It's his
very character
to the
core of
who he
is and
his just
deeds
reflect
that
righteous
character
without
fail.
Finally
the
righteous
king
and
just
kingdom
we've
been
longing
for.
Second
he'll
bring a
restored
Eden.
Listen to
the beautiful
picture of
the curse
being broken
and the
good garden
restored.
It starts
at verse
6.
The wolf
shall dwell
with the
lamb
and the
leopard
shall lie
down
with the
young goat
the calf
and the
lion
and the
fattened
calf
together
and a
little
child
shall
lead
them.
The
cow
and the
bear
shall
graze
their
young
shall
lie
down
together
and the
lion
shall
eat
straw
like
the
ox.
You've
not seen
these
things.
Something's
changing.
The
nursing
child
shall
play
over the
hole
of the
cobra
and the
weaned
child
shall
put
his
hand
on
the
adder's
den.
They
shall
not
hurt
or
destroy
in
all
my
holy
mountain
for
the
earth
shall
be
full
of
the
knowledge
of
the
Lord
as
the
waters
cover
the
sea.
It's a
picture
of
Eden
isn't
it?
It hasn't
been like
this since
then.
None of
God's
people have
witnessed
this
reality.
Predator
and prey
together
in peace.
Mankind
in the
person
of the
little
child
back
where
he
was
made
to
be
in
his
role
of
great
dignity
ruling
over
and caring
for
the
creation.
If you
want to
know for
sure that
the curse
is being
reversed
that God's
going to
make it
all back
to the
way it
was meant
to be
the seed
of the
woman
is near
the seed
of the
serpent
without
being
harmed.
That's the
picture Isaiah
is painting.
That's poetic
prophecy right
there.
That's for
all the
non-engineers.
Everything
all of
creation
will be
back
the way
God
intended
it.
No
pain
and
destruction
but
instead
the
glorious
intimate
unhindered
relationship
with God
from
sea
to
sea.
Oh
Israel
was
longing
for
that.
They
hadn't
known
that.
None
of
them.
What
would
that
even
feel
like
to
relate
to
God
like
that?
Finally
the hope
promised
is that
the
Christ
will
bring
a
recovered
people.
Verse
10.
In
that
day
the
root
of
Jesse
who
shall
stand
as a
signal
for the
peoples
of him
shall
the
nations
inquire
and his
resting
place
shall
be
glorious.
Don't
miss this.
It's
so good.
I love
this
verse.
Here's
what's
going
on.
The
one
who
has
been
called
the
shoot
coming
out
from
the
stump
is
now
also
called
the
root
of
Jesse.
He's
not
merely
one
more
king
in
the
line
of
many
kings
who've
come
from
Jesse
and
David
but
one
who
is
unique
in
that
he
was
there
before
Jesse
as
well
as
after.
He's
promised
all
the
way
back
in
the
garden
right?
This
one
is
coming
a
king
in
to
be
a
signal
a
banner
what
why
what's
so
special
about
him?
He
comes
and
what
happens?
A
sign
a
banner
is
raised
and
the
nations
run
toward
him
rally
around
him
as
it
were
joyfully
celebrating
him.
You
see
Israel
wasn't
the
only
nation
that
was
promised
to
be
reduced
to
a
stump
was
it?
They
were
but
so
was
once
mighty
Assyria
so
were
many
other
nations
promised
to be
destroyed
like
them
and
only
one
stump
Jesse
Israel
would
have a
shoot
come up.
There
was
just
one
stump
with
one
shoot
but
the
whole
forest
the
whole
glorious
beautiful
thing
is going
to be
replanted
isn't
it?
The
righteous
ruler
will
bring
back
the
restored
creation
and
all
the
nations
will
find
their
life
in
him
the
forest
around
that
one
stump
with
that
one
shoot
will
be
magnificent
glorious
again
the way
God
intended
it
can't
you
just
not
wait
to be
a
part
of
that
a
beautiful
multicolored
forest
living
together
in
peace
enjoying
the
glorious
presence
of
our
God
just
the
way
he
designed
us
to
live
listen
there's
somebody
in
your
life
who
needs
to
see
you
point
them
to
Jesus
the
banner
the
signal
so
that
they
can
run
to
him
and
be
a
part
of
that
glorious
forest
to
have
the
hope
of
experiencing
life
as
it
should
be
finally
where
does
that
hope
come
from
that's
a
glorious
hope
in
verse
10
at
the
end
of
this
passage
don't
miss
where
it's
coming
from
it
comes
from
Christmas
it's
only
in
the
righteous
ruler
it's
only
in
the
little
child
who
shall
lead
them
it's
only
in
the
root
of
Jesse
that
single
shoot
that
comes
forth
becomes
the
righteous
branch
that's
the
only
place
the
hope
is
found
on
that
first
Christmas
the
shoot
shoots
forth
sprouts
out
of
the
stump
an
unassuming
child
born
in a
stable
in
too
little
unimportant
Bethlehem
in a
place
of
hopelessness
he
is the
one
from
whom
all
this
glorious
hope
will
come
he
will
live
in
humble
poverty
die
on
an
awful
cross
and
in
so
doing
those
things
he
will
bring
hope
to
the
nations
because
it's
only
in
those
places
that
hope
truly
grows
the
long
expected
Jesus
is
Israel's
strength
and
consolation
and
the
hope
of
whom
all
the
earth
he
is
the
joy
of
every
longing
heart
except
that
sometimes
we
stop
short
of
Jesus
don't
we
sometimes
our
hearts
do
long
and
they
want
fulfillment
but
we
think
the
fulfillment
we're
longing
for
can
be
found
elsewhere
don't
we
sometimes
we
grasp
for
hope
that
is
immediate
and
temporal
and
we
think
that's
finally
going to
do it
for us
be
be honest
does it
ever feel
like
just a
little
more
money
a little
different
family
a little
better
life
circumstance
would make
things as
they should
be
do you ever
feel like
that
that deep
longing
you feel
could be
satisfied
forever
with just a
just a small
change in
life situation
I was going
to run
through a
list of
seemingly
successful
people who
have said
they found
little hope
or fulfillment
in their
success
and in
changing
their
circumstances
and reaching
the top
as it
were
quarterback
Tom Brady
Madonna
but then I
decided actor
Jim Carrey
said it
better than
any of
them
this is what
Jim Carrey
said
he said
I think
everybody
should get
rich
and famous
and do
everything
they ever
dreamed of
so they can
see that it's
not the
answer
they should
do everything
they ever
dreamed of
have all
their dreams
come true
so they can
see it's not
the answer
that's true
isn't it
you may not
have had all
your dreams
come true
and done
everything you
ever dreamed
of but
you've done
a lot
of things
you've had
a lot
of things
and yet
that ache
hasn't gone
away completely
has it
no temporary
improvement
of circumstances
has ever
filled
the deep
longing
has it
that's why
it's still
there sometimes
the people
of God
have long
struggled
to find
the true
hope
that will
meet the
true
longing
of their
hearts
they've
chased
idols
that they
hoped
could give
them rain
for their
crops
or victory
in battle
they hoped
the promised
Messiah
would deliver
them from
foreign oppression
and put them
in charge
and make
things a little
easier
and we will
talk next
week about
the comfort
in this life
that Christ
brings
it's true
that is there
but the hope
of the gospel
is an eternal
one
it's an
eternal
hope
it's why
C.S. Lewis
wrote
if I find
in myself
a desire
which no
experience
in this
world
can satisfy
the most
probable
explanation
is that
I was made
for another
world
perhaps some
of God's
people were
putting their
hope in one
who would
come to
bring a little
more political
power
a little
more
temporal
comfort
and God
says listen
I've got
so much
more in
mind for
you
it's so
much
better
than that
eternal
harmony
and flourishing
with all
my people
the way
it was
meant to
be in
the beginning
all under
the righteous
rule of
a divine
king
that's the
hope of
Isaiah 11
isn't it
Isaiah 11
offers hope
not in
change
not in
altered
circumstances
it offers
hope in
a champion
an altered
eternity
in fact an
eternal
savior
who will
come
again
and God
says to us
this morning
I know
in your
longing you
look for
hope
in a
boyfriend
or a
girlfriend
in a
different
spouse
in a
different
job
you look
maybe to
that method
that you're
using to
escape the
pain
of life
or to
numb the
ache
that you
feel so
often
and that
seems like
the only
thing worth
grabbing onto
for hope
and God
says listen
I've got so
much more
than that in
mind
it's so much
better than
just that
there's only
one stump
with a
green
shoot
only
one
place
of
true
hope
and
life
amidst
the
devastation
and ache
of your
heart
it's the
righteous
branch
who offers
in himself
hope
true
hope
hope of
finally and
forever being
what you were
truly made
to be
deep
fulfillment
true
freedom
eternal
glory
friend
I would
plead with
you this
morning
not to
settle
for anything
less than
that
run to
Jesus
and find
the purpose
for which
you were
created
in him
and in
his
glorious
multi-ethnic
everlasting
forest
that you
can be a
part of
that's the
hope
that Christmas
offers
the coming
of God
into this
world
and his
return
that we
still
await
brings
eternal
hope
and
fulfillment
not a
temporary
earthly
reprieve
from
difficulty
and
longing
we haven't
gotten rid of
longing
have we
after all
creation
itself
is
still
longing
according
to
Romans 8
creation
waits
with eager
longing
for the
revealing
of the
sons
of God
the whole
creation
groaning
together
and not
only the
creation
but we
ourselves
groan
inwardly
as we
wait
eagerly
for adoption
as sons
redemption
of our
bodies
for in
this hope
we were
saved
not in a
hope of
just today
not in the
hope of a
small change
to my
circumstance
but the
hope of
redemption
forever
my adoption
as the
son of
God
and the
glorious
redemption
of all
of creation
in that
hope
we were
saved
creation
waits
and longs
still today
with us
for the
hope of an
eternal
salvation
a glorious
restoration
to the way
things were
created to be
that's the
hope
hope of
all
creation
I don't
know about
you
but I
still ache
I ache
a lot
not not
just the
morning after
setting up the
Christmas tree
and waking up
and feeling my
back
and that
kind of
aching
I ache
for the
world to be
a place of
justice
peace
I wait
and wait
for a
day when I
no longer
have a
selfish
heart
that hurts
those that I
love the
most and
makes me feel
deeply inadequate
I long
for the
dignity
and the
glory for
which I
was created
to be
something I
experience
every day
and day
after day
rather than
something I
feel I have
to manufacture
or pretend
so other
people will
think I'm
important
and tell me
I'm valuable
I'm so
thankful
that the
call of
Isaiah 11
that the
message of
the gospel
is not
quit longing
and get
over the
ache
it's not
that at all
rather
acknowledge
your true
deepest
longing
feel it
deeply
and let
the longing
you feel
whether you
feel it
waiting for
Christmas
this year
or whether
you feel
it longing
and waiting
for Christ
to come
again
let that
longing
drive you
to true
hope
there has
indeed come
forth a
shoot
from the
stump of
Jesse
and a
branch
from his
root
has borne
fruit
and in
that day
one day
he promises
his coming
soon
the root
of Jesse
shall stand
as a
signal
for the
nations
of him
all of them
shall inquire
and his
resting place
shall be
glorious
amen
let's pray
Jesus
what a
day
that will
be
when you
and we
with you
will be
at rest
that's our
hope
don't let us
settle for
anything
less than
that
there's great
glory you
have intended
and designed
for us
you're working
it out
right now
but it's
coming
in its
fullness
and we
are desperate
for it
to come
our hope
indeed
is in
that one
day
someday
we're not
there yet
but we
have a
savior
who is
taking us
there
and Jesus
we thank
you
we pray
come
Lord
Jesus
make
this
world
make
your
people
everything
that you
would have
us to be
for the
glory of
your name
and for
our
eternal
fulfillment
and joy
in you
oh Jesus
meet our
longings
with true
hope
we ask
it in
your name
amen
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information
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online
at
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for more
information
visit us
online
at
southwood.org