When God Promises Things Happen

              When God Promises Things Happen
Luke 3.1-6 December 4, 1988
The Second Sunday in Advent
Introduction: Do not make promises you cannot keep. It is a rule of
life that was taught to most of us as part of the moral pedagogy our
mothers and fathers taught us. What is a promise? Who makes
promises? A promise is a declaration something will or will not be
done.
I. Yet, today, the world is strewn with broken promises.
A. There is the excitement and joy of promises fulfilled.
1. Do you remember the first time you made a promise?
Possibly it was on a trip to the north woods of
Wisconsin. There, it was promised, you would see deer in
the woods, bears coming out in late afternoon to feed at
the garbage pit, eagles' nests on the edge of a ledge
overlooking the tops of giant pine trees. That promise
made the long ride, boring as it was, worthwhile because
of the promise.
2. Then there are those promises fulfilled that are not always
joyful. If you do not come in right now you will miss your
supper.
B. Promises are in the very nature of any community life
whether it be business, in the family, or just between friends.
Promises are driving forces in human life. The promise of
another birthday, the promise of having a baby, the promise
of finding one's love in another, the promise of having a life
fulfilled by using the gifts one is given, promises, promises,
they move the world like nothing else.
C. Stacks of broken promises sit on a judge's bench. Broken
promises are written in sadness on faces whose hollow eyes
and sad mouths tell of deep disappointment.
D. There is no phrase more tearing to the conscience of parents
than the child's lament, "But you promised."
II. Advent is a time of waiting for the promise of Christmas.
A. Long before our messages came to us by telephone, radio,
television, film, mail, newspaper, billboard or bumper sticker,
messages were disseminated by word of mouth and through events.
1. The Scriptures remind us that God spoke through prophets,
priests, kings, judges, scribes, apostles and through the
events of creation, catastrophe, war, exile, birth, life,
crucifixion, resurrection, and death.
2. What kind of message do we receive? One that says that
the whole creation, everything in it, and everyone in it, is
the concern of god. God has not simply wound the clock
and hung it on the wall to let time take its course, but on
the contrary God involves everyone and everything in God's
concern. "He's got the whole world in his hands is more
than a Gospel song; it contains one of the great themes
of faith.
B. The message we receive before Christmas is the promise of
one who is to come to be among us; one who is to be born
that will make all the difference in the world. This one is
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