What Are You Watching For?

1st Sunday in Advent, 11/28/21 Jeremiah 33:14-16 What Are You Watching For? I. Watch for a righteous Branch. II. Watch for a righteous people. We’re entering into what most people consider to be the most visual time of the year. For instance, for the past two weeks you were encouraged to watch for Black Friday deals on Christmas gifts. Did you get out early and shop last Friday? If so, what did you see? What did you find? Did the deals live up to the advertising hype? And you’re probably aware that tomorrow is Cyber Monday, the online equivalent of Black Friday. If you’ve done any online shopping lately, no doubt you have been inundated with ads which encourage you to watch for tomorrow’s outstanding deals on Christmas merchandise. I have no doubt that the response will set an online sales record. Online shoppers are watching and waiting for those online deals. And now that Thanksgiving is past, the Christmas decorations and displays will begin popping up all over. Just take a drive through your neighborhood tonight and you’re bound to see fully decorated Christmas trees indoors and lavish Christmas displays outdoors. And they’ll multiply as quickly as calculators over the next week. Just watch! This morning’s sermon text from Jeremiah doesn’t contain the word “watch,” but it’s certainly implied in the opening words. Listen to those words once again, “The days are coming.” Those are words from the mouth of the Lord. Those words cause God’s people to stop whatever they’re doing and pay attention to what’s coming. Those words call for God’s people to watch. But watch for what? After all, look at all the watching opportunities we have in the weeks ahead. In fact, we have more things to watch for than we have time for. Exactly! So, how will you prioritize your watching? What will you watch for? Better yet, what are your watching for? In these words of Jeremiah, the Lord has some astounding suggestions for you. Let’s see what they are. I. I’m sure your world has been at least a little unsettled over the past year and a half or more, but imagine this. Imagine nothing is the same in your life anymore. You’ve been removed from your home and once you left it was destroyed. You no longer have employment; it ended at the same time you lost your home. You have no idea what has happened to your extended family members. And, to top it off, there’s no one to help you with these monumental tragedies. The government which your country has enjoyed for more than 300 years had been toppled and you’re now ruled by a foreign super-power. Your life, as you had known it, was over. But, you still had your trust in the Lord, albeit that trust had been shaken. You were still longing to hear some message of hope from him. You were counting on him to make everything right in your life again. And this is what you heard him say, “‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line.’” You were looking for him to tell you how he’s going to put your life back together again, but, instead, he tells you about a righteous Branch from David’s tree. That’s not what you were looking for. That’s not what you were watching for. But, it’s exactly what you needed. And it’s also exactly what God’s people of Jeremiah’s day needed. You see, the Jews had enjoyed rulers from the line of King David for 300 years. But not anymore. The family tree of David, as far as kings go, had been cut down. Only a stump was left. There would be no more descendants of King David ruling the earthly kingdom of the Jews. But, a righteous Branch would appear. You know how it happened. About 600 years after the Lord spoke these words to Jeremiah, he acted on his plan of salvation. A virgin became pregnant by the almighty power of the Holy Spirit. A Child was born who was a descendant of King David, and his parents gave him the name Jesus. And by his life, death, and resurrection from the dead, he established an eternal kingdom in which he blesses his people eternally. And that’s exactly what God’s people at the time of Jeremiah needed to hear. Their greatest need was not a strong Jewish government to restore them as a nation and lead them to earthly prosperity. They needed a righteous Branch who would rescue them from eternal death in hell. The Lord here was telling his people to watch for that righteous Branch. And he’s telling you to do the same. In just four weeks we’ll celebrate the greatest birth this world has ever known—the birth of Christ. He came into our world exactly as God promised. And he did everything his Father sent him to do to win our forgiveness and eternal life. Watch for that birth! And watch for his return. By God’s amazing grace, you and I know how Jesus lived, died, and rose again. By God’s amazing grace, he has brought us to faith in Jesus as our righteous Branch. And now we look for him to fulfill his final promise to us—to return to this earth, raise us from the dead, glorify our bodies, and take him to be with him in heaven. So, what are you watching for? I can think of nothing more important than to watch for a righteous Branch. If you haven’t heard the question yet, you likely will soon. “What do you want for Christmas?” or, “What do you need for Christmas?” Do you have an answer or two? Maybe even a short list of items? If you don’t, just pay a little attention to the incessant Christmas advertising. An endless number of merchants will try to convince you that they have what you need. Perhaps you’ll rise above that consumer fray and, at the urging of some caring voice in our world, consider what our world needs this Christmas season. The usual list presented is peace between people, a little more love in the world, more consideration for the less fortunate. But when the Lord spoke these words, “The days are coming,” he didn’t urge his people to watch for any of those things to happen. Instead, he focused on their greatest need—a righteous Branch. That righteous Branch is our greatest need because our greatest problem isn’t to eradicate society’s ills; it’s what’s at the root of society’s ills—sin. My sins and yours. Unless we have a solution to sin, all other solutions in our world would mean nothing because we’d spend an eternity apart from our God. So, watch for a righteous Branch! Make up your mind that your focus this Advent season will be on the forgiveness and eternal life that Branch won for you. Don’t get distracted by the siren’s call of what our world considers Christmas to be. Make sure you’re watching for what really matters—a righteous Branch. II. If you saw the videos, you were horrified. Last Sunday a man ran his vehicle through the heart of a city’s Christmas parade, mowing down children and the elderly. And it appeared intentional. Another evidence that the human heart by nature is exceedingly wicked. It’s tragedies like these that make us wonder what the Lord is going to do about all the evil in our world. The people who lived when Jeremiah wrote these words wondered the same thing. And the Lord’s response was, “The days are coming.” In other words, “Watch!” Watch for what? Listen to his answer, “‘In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.’” Ever since the Lord spoke these words, Judah and Jerusalem here on earth have not lived in safety. He could not have been talking about an earthly Judah or Jerusalem, earthly kingdoms. He was talking about a spiritual kingdom—the Church. In those days when the righteous Branch—Jesus—appeared, he established a kingdom that would never end. The Church is made up of every sinful person who trusts in Jesus as their Savior from sin. Jesus has called them out of the world and into his kingdom. That’s what the word “church” means—to be called out of. And notice the title of that Church. “This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.” The members of the Church claim no righteousness of their own. Their righteousness comes through Christ by faith in him. Our God calls us righteous or holy because he has washed all our sins away so that we now stand before him in the righteousness that Jesus won for us. You and I are members of that holy kingdom. Focus on that amazing truth in the days and weeks ahead! Watch! And then watch for Jesus to return and declare before every human being in all of history that you are one of his righteous people. What a day that will be! It will mean the culmination of everything our God wants and intends for us. It will be the day when we leave behind this world full of sorrows and enter the new heavens and the new earth. What are you watching for? Watch for a righteous people. Watch over the next four weeks as people try to be on their best behavior. They’ll redouble their efforts to be charitable and compassionate. They’ll try to make the next 28 days the best of the year. But the coming days won’t be perfect. They certainly won’t be holy. And, on our own, neither will we. That’s because we, like everyone else, will drag our sinfulness with us as we head into Christmas. But we are righteous in Christ. He makes us righteous by faith in him. Watch as the Lord produces the fruits of that righteousness. Watch as the Lord empowers us to be the people he has made us to be. And, all the while, watch for his return when he will gather all his righteous people to himself forever. Now that’s something to watch for! Amen.