Hope from Small Beginnings | Finding Hope in Advent

So we are in the fourth Sunday in Advent. We've

mentioned that of our sermon series, El Peace,

the Greek word for hope. Hope from small beginnings.

The one thing, and we're actually going to jump

into it after, so we have the pauper service,

the last service of the year, next Sunday, which

is where we have a lot of meaningful kind of

reflections on the year, and it's an extra special

service, not to make him more nervous, and I'm

sure he is, but this will be Evan Concher's debut

sermon here at Munster Church as he walks through

all of that, so that will be exciting for all

of us. But one of the things we're going to do

the following week is we're going to... Kind

of do an overview of the minor prophets. We're

going to look at a word, chesed. So we're going

from Greek now to Hebrew. We're going to go into

the steadfast love of God. And it's found very

specifically in these minor prophets, which I

always find fascinating that we kind of lean

into those in Advent. And I wanted to kind of

continue that in the beginning of the new year

before we get to our epic Lent sermon series.

And we'll get to that later. But God always seems

to work in the scriptures in ways we wouldn't

really do it ourselves. And I think that that's

important to just state in the beginning, God

does things we wouldn't. I think that's kind

of a no -duh statement, because we're wrought

with sin, and so we struggle to do things for

our own vanity, our own name, our own praise.

God doesn't do that in that same way. God is

big, we are small, and we walked through kind

of this advent journey seeing how God does things

a little differently and how God brings hope.

Jeremiah was hope through waiting. You had Malachi,

hope through refinement. Last week was Zephaniah,

hope through restoration. But today, through

Micah, we meet another stunning truth about hope.

That God loves to bring his greatest works in

the smallest of... Which is, I think, should

be a very comforting thing because he works through

us. And my hope and my prayer is that we don't

think ourselves so big that we think God should

use us because we're so awesome. But because

we are small and God is big, he works through

us, through the church. But you see, Micah is

speaking into a world of political instability,

spiritual decline, and widespread... fear. Now

for some of us, I just defined where we live

today, but that's not who Micah was talking about.

He was talking about a nation that was raging

inside and out, the people trembling, Jerusalem

being vulnerable, hope seeming distant. Micah,

this prophet, is speaking into that. And as much

as we've talked about it, a lot of us would have

said, no, come as a king conquering Rome, you

know, establishing yourself. We want the revelation

Jesus because we know what that is. We've read

that. That's not how he comes. God speaks not

of a mighty city or a powerful king or a strong

army, but he speaks of Bethlehem, this little

nothing town in the book of Micah. God's rescue

for you and me begins where nobody would expect

it. Nobody had that on their Messiah bingo card,

if you will, because small beginnings often reveal

an even bigger God. So let's look, as we have

done the last three weeks, hope from the past,

Bethlehem and God's pattern. Of choosing the

small. So we're going to be in some of that weird

as we read. We're going to be in the A and B

part of a verse. So if you're in like an A and

a B part of verse. It has to do with clauses

in a verse. Let me nerd out just a little bit.

So if a verse is a little bit longer. And there's

different clauses in it. Sometimes you put in

A. And you only read that. And then B. Forget

I said it. Doesn't matter. I'll just read it.

Okay, so 5 to A. But you, O Bethlehem, Epaphra,

who are you too little to be among the clans

of Judah? Micah draws immediately to Bethlehem.

And Bethlehem's insignificance. Bethlehem wasn't

anything special. It was not a special town.

I was thinking, what town could I kind of liken

it to as you go down I -65, but I don't want

to offend anybody, so I'm not going to mention

one, Rensselaer. It's really insignificant. No

one really talks about it. It's not a major city,

not a political capital, not even large enough

to be counted for a military census. No one really

cared. Yet Bethlehem carried deep covenant meaning

because of one name. For a cup of coffee in a

conversation with Pastor Jim, what name brought

Bethlehem significance? Who said that? Nikki,

man, you still don't call those in. We can almost

like buy a Starbucks with how many you've gotten

right. Okay, David. Maybe that wasn't that hard.

Bethlehem, David, Messiah. That is probably where

I should have put coffee on. The smallest place

comes the birthplace of the greatest king, God's

greatest king. And is that not God's pattern?

God works this way. This is not an isolated moment

of the way God works. This isn't a blip on God's

radar. He chooses Abraham, right, an elderly

wanderer. He chooses Moses, a stuttering exile.

He chooses Gideon, the weakest of his clan. He

chooses David, the forgotten youngest son, hanging

out with the sheep. He chooses Israel, the smallest

nation. The theology that we hold to calls this

the condensation of God. And we don't look at

condensation here as a negative. The way he stoops

low to accomplish his saving purposes. We can

draw this from question answer 26 of the Heidelberg

Catechism. Why confess that our Father will turn

to my good whatever adversity he sends me? Why?

Because his power is made perfect in your weakness

and in my weakness. Small beginnings do not deny

God's power. They display them. Hope from the

past tells us God's greatness is revealed in

smallness. So looking back, that's what we see.

That's how we engage it. But let's go to the

present. Where's our hope for the present? Well,

a shepherd king who stands and strengthens. Now

we're going to go to the be part of verse 2.

Micah 5, verse 2, be. From you shall come forth

Micah 5:2

for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose

coming forth is from old, from ancient days.

Micah points us to a ruler who was both human

and eternal. Born in Bethlehem, yet from ancient

days. This ruler is not only going to be sovereign,

who not only is sovereign, he's going to be a

shepherd king. And he will stand and shepherd

his flock in the strength of the Lord. What does

this mean for us? What does this shepherd king

mean for you and me where you find yourself today?

December 21st, 2025. What does the shepherd king

mean for you? First and foremost, the shepherd

king stands. He does not flee. He does not fail.

He does not forget his people. And as we learned

a year ago from the book of Revelation, he stands

with his church. With his disciples. With the

broken. And with the weak. With the scared. And

the anxious. He stands when we fall. Second,

he shepherds. He guides. He protects. He feeds.

He restores. His leadership is not distant in

some far away place. In a galaxy far, far away.

No, he is right here. Intimate. Closer to you

and me than our two front teeth. He stands. He

shepherds and he strengthens. Micah says he shepherds

in the strength of the Lord. It's not human strength,

my friends. It's not the strength you and I have.

It's not political strength. It's not military

strength. This is why Jesus can say and doubles

down on it when he is here on earth. My sheep

hear my voice. I know them. Maybe you need to

hear that today. That Jesus knows you. And maybe

we have two different reactions to that. We go,

man, that feels so good that Jesus knows me.

And I just need that. I need to rest in that

today. Or maybe you're over here going, oh no.

He knows me. He sees me. He gets me. And we can

have a really aversive reaction to that because

of the things we've done. My sheep hear my voice.

I know them and they follow me. So let me ask,

church, family and friends that are here today,

church online, virtual, are you following the

shepherd? Are you following a shepherd that stands

and shepherds and strengthens you when you're

down here and lifts you up or up here and he

can bring you down? Are you standing with him?

Are you accepting his shepherding? Are you living

and breathing in his strength? Because I don't

know about you, in a world of instability, I

thank God that he stands. In a world of fear,

I thank God that he protects. In a world of just

pure exhaustion, I thank God that he strengthens.

Is that not our L piece for the day? Our L piece

for the present, our hope? Your hope today is

not based on your own power, your own wisdom,

or your own resources. Thank God they're based

on a shepherd king. How are you following the

shepherd? What does this look like moving forward?

Hope for the future? He shall be our peace. So

we're going to go to verse 4 and 5. And he shall

stand. And shepherd his flock in the strength

of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the

Lord his God, and they shall dwell secure. And

now he shall be great to the ends of the earth,

and he shall be their peace. When the Assyrians

come into our land and treads in our palaces,

then we will rise against him seven shepherds

and eight princes of men. So, April, leave that

up there. Take out the word Assyrians. What is

plaguing you today? Is it the unknown? Is it

a fear? Is it a sickness? Is it family turmoil?

Is it a broken relationship? Is it issues in

your job? Is it just the fear that the kids are

home for the next 10 days and you have no idea

how to handle it? What is it? What Assyrians

are coming your way that you don't have the confidence

to face knowing you have someone greater than

you standing with you, standing for you, shepherding

you, and strengthening you? Micah shifts from

Bethlehem to the end of the earth, to the end

of your and my earth. Messiah's rule is not just

local and temporary. It's universal and eternal.

He shall. Be your peace. He doesn't just bring

peace. He doesn't just promise peace. He doesn't

model it. He doesn't have it on a felt board

and go, this is how peace works. Paul echoes

this truth in Ephesians 2. For he himself is

our peace. And I don't know about you. All of

a sudden it's 247. And for the third day in a

row, you're up. Your mind starts downloading

your days, your hopes, your fears, your anxieties,

all the things, and you just can't fall back

asleep. Right? Jesus doesn't say, well, pray

these prayers, right, and this will manufacture

peace in your life. No, he says, I am your peace.

The reason why he gives us peace is because he

is our peace. Church, I need you to understand

that. I need you to get that as we walk through

this next season of Munster Church, highs and

lows, anxieties, and all the things, we stand

on someone who literally is our peace. That unknown,

that walk that you're going through, that walk

we're going through, we don't know what it's

going to look like. We have no idea what it's

going to look like after all the pledges come

in. We have no idea what the future for Munster

Church looks like. But our peace is the person

we look to. Jesus the Christ. Because I know

for a fact there are some of you looking into

crazy unknowns. And you need hope. For some of

you, even through the rest of this year, you're

scared. Next year, you're scared. You're excited.

You're anxious. You're D, all of the above. We

need peace in all of that. And that is the future

hope. Remember, he doesn't just bring peace or

promise peace or model peace. He is our peace.

We need to recognize that and recognize that

his reign has come, is still here, and will come.

Back again. The reign of Christ is unfolding.

Micah is pointing to us that all nations will

see his glory. Then it was in the person of Jesus.

Now, watch out, it comes in you and me. The nations

will see the glory through the people of God

and the church. So what is that posture? What

should we be looking like? Well, every knee bowed.

Every tear wiped away, every name praising the

Prince of Peace, Jesus the Christ. We'll look

around and we will see the weird things. We will

see things that we can only explain by going,

man, God had a hand in it. The earth will be

full of the knowledge of the Lord and he will

use the church. I see it, I feel it, I read it

in here. That is you and me. Hope for the future

reminds us that what began in Bethlehem will

culminate in the new Jerusalem. But to get there,

we have to go to Golgotha first. We have to go

to the cross. The great double down. Not you,

not me. Our blood not shed, but Christ's. The

cross -shaped advent. Advent points us backwards

to his birth, forward to his return, but to the

cross. Eternal redemption. Micah's prophecy of

Bethlehem leads directly to the manger, the manger

to the cross. Remember that lyric I used to start

this? I celebrate the day by relying K. You were

born to die so one day I could pray to you to

save my life. It was said of none of us here,

none of us that Linda Boonder has worked with

over the last 30 some years, none in the 155

years of Munster Church has that ever been said

of. It's been said of Jesus Christ. Micah 5 speaks

of beginnings. The cross speaks of completion.

Christ came in smallness so he could give us

his fullness. Bethlehem leads to Golgotha so

redemption can lead to resurrection. Friends,

that's the hope of Advent. The resurrection of

the life to come. The one who came in weakness

is the one who reigns in victory. So where do

we go from here? Let's land the plane this morning.

What do we take with us this week? One, do not

despise small beginnings. If you think you're

in a small place right now, stay present. God's

going to choose to use that. God loves to work

through the small, the overlooked, and the ordinary.

Two, trust the shepherd king. Why? We've already

talked about it. He stands, he shepherds, and

he strengthens. And three, hold fast to the future.

The one who came will come again. Bethlehem reminds

us that hope is not loud. It's not flashy. It's

not dramatic. Hope often starts quietly in a

manger, in a small town, in small steps of faithfulness.

Yet we see time and time again in God's word,

it grows. It grows into something. This Bethlehem

small town hope turns into the salvation of the

world. So as we all come together in a couple

days to celebrate the born salvation, we know

he is our peace, he is our hope, he is our peace.

Let's pray.