Ready or Not, Here I Come (Part 3) 
The Power of A Promise

A Sermon By Jim Hammond from 2 Peter 3:4, 9, 14
Part of the “Make Every Effort” 2 Peter Series

Focus:  No matter what, Christians can look forward to life because of the power of God’s promise in and through Jesus Christ.

I.  The Promise of a Pregnancy

Isaiah 7:14

    Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Luke 1:29-38

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

34"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

35The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37For nothing is impossible with God."

38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

We need to see the Holy occasion in a natural light.  There was no glow around the faces and heads of the people at the nativity scene.  There wasn’t a glow emanating from the place, a smell of a barn maybe, but not a glow.  The Holy occasion was mysterious yes, but also very plain.  Jesus was ordinary, yet extraordinary.  He was ordinary in that he looked like every other Jewish boy, well, almost every other one.  I heard Chuck Swindoll say that the one Jew Jesus did not look like was Joseph!

He was ordinary yet extraordinary.  He was Mary’s son, but also the Son of God.  He was the fulfillment of all the long awaited promises.  If the details of the promises were our focus this morning we could take hours looking at all the promises of the Old Testament scriptures written about this child who came miraculously to the world.

Try to listen to the following song as if you were from the nation that had anticipated for 1,000 years the fulfillment of the promise:

The Promise, by Michael Card

The Lord God said when time was full
He would shine His light in the darkness
He said a virgin would conceive
And give birth to the Promise
For a thousand years the dreamers dreamt
And hoped to see His love but the Promise showed their wildest dreams
Had simply not been wild enough.
The Promise showed their wildest dreams
Had simply not been wild enough.
The Promise was love And the Promise was life
The Promise meant light to the world
Living proof that Yahweh saves
For the name of the Promise was Jesus
The Faithful One saw time was full
And the ancient pledge was honored
So God the Son the Incarnate One
His final Word His own Son
Was born in Bethlehem but came into our hearts to live 
What more could God have given, tell me
What more did He have to give?
What more could God have given,
Tell me what more did He have to give?
The Promise was love And the Promise was life
The Promise meant light to the world
Living proof that Yahweh saves
For the name of the Promise was Jesus
The Promise was love And the Promise was life
The Promise meant light to the world
Living proof that Yahweh saves for the name of the Promise was Jesus
Living proof that Yahweh saves for the name of the Promise was Jesus[1]

II.  The Pregnancy of a Promise

In Nouwen Then, author Luci Shaw writes:
     I'm an impatient, restless person. Slowing down and waiting seem like a waste of time. Yet waiting seems to be an inevitable part of the human condition.
     Henri Nouwen said, "Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting."
     Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of Romans 8:22-25 resonates with Nouwen: "Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting" (The Message).
     During a time of waiting, God is vibrantly at work within us. [2]

Though we may be enlarged during pregnancy, that doesn’t make it easy, as can be seen by the following...

Questions & Answers about Pregnancy

QUESTION: What is the most common pregnancy craving?
ANSWER: For men to be the ones who get pregnant.

QUESTION: My husband and I are very attractive. I'm sure our baby will be beautiful enough for commercials. Whom should I contact about this?
ANSWER: Your therapist.

QUESTION: My wife is five months pregnant and so moody that sometimes she's borderline irrational.
ANSWER: So what's your question?

QUESTION: I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?
ANSWER: With any luck, right after he finishes college.

QUESTION: How will I know if my vomiting is morning sickness or the flu?
ANSWER: If it's the flu, you'll get better.

QUESTION: My brother tells me that since my husband has a big nose, and genes for big noses are dominant, my baby will have a big nose as well. Is this true?
ANSWER: The odds are greater that your brother will have a fat lip.

QUESTION: The more pregnant I get, the more often strangers smile at me.  Why?
ANSWER: Because you're fatter then they are.

QUESTION: Will I love my dog less when the baby is born?
ANSWER: No, but your husband might get on your nerves.

QUESTION: What's the difference between the figure of a nine-months pregnant woman and the figure of a supermodel?
ANSWER: Nothing, if the pregnant woman's husband knows what's good for him.

QUESTION: My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right?
ANSWER: Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.

 

Waiting For the Christ Was like a 2000 year Pregnancy.

·        When God makes a promise, it is a sure thing.

·         There is no such thing as “sort of being pregnant.” 

·        There is no such thing as “sort of a promise” from God. 

·        From the time he speaks a promise to the time it is fulfilled is a time for growth. 

NARNIA ILLUSTRATION:  

Since the time our children were very young, we have always read to them The Chronicles of Narnia, these wonderful children's stories about the magical land of Narnia. In the second book, Prince Caspian, Lucy enters Narnia again, and she hasn't seen Aslan, this lion figure who represents Christ. She has not seen him in a long, long time, and so they have a wonderful reunion. Lucy says to Aslan, who represents Christ, "Aslan, you're bigger now."

   Aslan says, "Lucy, that's because you are older. You see, Lucy, every year that you grow, you will find me bigger." Hasn't that been the case for many of you? For many of us, every year we grow, we find him bigger in his grace and in his goodness and in his faithfulness and in those promises that he has given us upon which we can depend all the days of our lives [3]

The word promise shows up in 4, 9, & 13

2 Peter 3:4

They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:13

But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

The longer we have to wait the more dangerous is the temptation to forget.  This section is a clear reminder to step back from our little frame of reference to take a deliberate look at the big picture.  Step away from the snap shot in time of our lives and look at the broad panoramic view of time and history and you will see that God is The Lord of Time.

He is not slow, but patient, and sovereign.

We have a promise-making God.

·        Think of the promise to Abraham  (think of how faith in that promise was tested in Abraham’s life…, ) 

·        God’s Promise (Covenant) brought dignity, identity, and hope to a nation of people.  His promise included a promise to bless all people through Abraham.

·        3 aspects of his promise (a people, his presence, a place)

We have a promise-keeping God.

What did it take for God to keep a promise? 

·        He brought new life to the old womb of Sarah

·        He redeemed the people of promise from Slavery and made them a great nation.

·        He gave them dignity, identity, and hope. (They were a people, His people, God was with them, they had the hope of becoming a nation with a place)

·        He returned them to their nation after exile.

·        He brought to them the Savior of the World

·        The promise of God’s presence is fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is called “what my Father has promised”

·        God kept his promise of a people by forming something greater than national Israel: the new international, interracial fellowship created by Jesus . In the New Testament the ultimate place to belong is not a piece of land but the city of God in the new heaven and the new earth.

What did it take for God to keep a promise?  It took A Cross!

The Ambulance Skit

General Truths about God’s Promises and Prophecy

·       God made promises that kept people waiting for over 2,000 years before the very first Christmas at Christ’s first coming.  Should we be surprised we have been waiting 2,000 years for his second coming? 

·       God has already repeatedly proved that his promises are trustworthy.  When has he ever failed to keep his promise?  Never.  And God will not fail now.

·       When has God ever fulfilled his promises exactly like smart people expected him to?  Never.  So don’t get too smart about figuring out how it is all going to come about this time either.

·       What could God be waiting for?  You don’t have to look far before we see a needy soul that our savior is waiting for.  We need to stop wondering when Christ is returning, and start living like he is returning.  We need to start spreading the word.

III.  The Power of a Promise

Godly People Make Promises and Keep Promises

·        Promises reveal your heart and Integrity

·        Promises are voluntary, nobody can make them for you

·        We do not break a promise as much as we break ourselves against them.

·        A Promise is a self imposed commitment to do something.  A Vow before God is a powerful thing that helps us keep our promises.

Provides Permanence for the Full expression of Love

The following comes from an article called “Promising” in the book “The

COMPLETE BOOK of EVERYDAY CHRISTIANITY--An A-to-Z Guide to Following Christ in Every Aspect of Life.

Promising defines corporate and social life. Without it we have to invent community instant by instant. For example, cohabiting is togetherness without promises and therefore is a fragile, temporary community that is less than true love. “If you love me, you will marry me” is an ancient heart cry founded on wisdom; love makes promises. Since couples keep changing over the years, promises can keep them growing in love.

Promises are also the invisible warp and woof of family life, holding people together through the inevitable transitions from infancy to empty nesting, but always belonging. The implicit promise of family life is that we will be there for each other whether we deserve it or not. Likewise social, business and political life can thrive only on promise making and promise keeping. Without promising the social fabric would disintegrate. Human transactions would be only as reliable as the intention of the moment. It is critical that we understand and recover the disappearing art of making promises. …Promising [making promises] takes us to the heart of God and, not surprisingly, reveals the extent to which we are God-imaging creatures. We are less than human when we stop promising, more like God when we engage in promising.[4]

Christians have moved through a process.  First they were promise seekers, seeking to understand the Promises God has made.  A promise seeker soon discovers that God has made promises for those who enter into covenant with Christ.  Promise seekers then can become promise receivers by entering into covenant with God through Christ.  Many Christians stop there.  But we should move forward.  After we have moved from being a promise Seeker, to becoming a Promise Receiver, we need to become ourselves a Promise Maker, then a Promise Keeper.  When we make commitments that honor God and look to God’s power to keep those commitments we are reflecting the image of God who is a promise maker and a promise keeper.

Promises I’ve Made that Give Stability and Joy To My Life

(I recognize that I must be a promise receiver first to have the resources to be a promise keeper)

1.               I promise to honor Jesus Christ through prayer, worship and obedience to His word.  I will make this one of the top priorities of my life.

2.               I promise to make spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity, my practice.

3.               I promise to work at building a strong marriage and family through love, protection, and biblical values. 

4.               I promise to serve my church by actively giving my time and resources.

5.               I promise to reach beyond racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity.

6.               I promise to be a positive influence to my world by being obedient to the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30-31) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)

7.               I promise to pursue vital relationships with a few trusted people because I understand that I need these relationships to help me keep my promises.