Awaiting His Arrival With Preparation

Luke 3:1–22 ESV

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ” 7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” 15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison. 21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Like we mentioned on last week, the Season of Advent should serve as a reminder to us that the Christian life itself is marked by a hopeful and patient waiting for an arrival, but John shows us that it is a waiting with preparation. So, today, we want to answer the question for the Advent season: What does the Life Preparing for Christ’s arrival look like? Because In answering that question, we learn what it means to live the prepared life now that He has arrived and is coming back!

In reading John we learn that waiting is marked in at least two significant ways:

This waiting is marked by activity not merely passivity

This waiting is marked simply by urgency not merely relaxation

First, Prepared Waiting is Active Waiting

As we read John’s words he leaves very little doubt that our waiting is not passive but instead a very active one.

In fact, what is evident when we evaluate the life and words of the preacher whose life we are examining this morning, John the Baptist, our posture in waiting is active and REPENTANT.

John makes it clear, that if we are to receive Christ properly, our hearts must be turned toward Christ.

Many who claim to be in a “receiving Christ” posture with their hearts turned away from Him.

It’s as if we expect to hug a person while our backs are turned from them.

Our Prepared, Active and Repentant Waiting Must Be Authentic

7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

In order to fully understand, what is taking place in this part of the story, we have to grab testimony from the Gospel of Matthew as well. When we look at Matthew’s testimony, this is what we get.

Matthew 3:5–7 ESV

5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

So, what we have is fake repenters being called out from among the genuine repenters.

Even though we have people from all over Jerusalem and Judea coming out to meet John down at the Jordan River to be baptized in preparation to receive this arriving Savior. We have these religious elite who have gathered with insincere motives.

John IMMEDIATELY confronts them because if you’ve read anything about John the Baptist, you know the one thing he’ll never be accused of is brown-nosing with the prestigious or the elite of His day.

Even in Verse 19-20 of this chapter, we learn that the final days of John’s life was spent in the Herod - the King of Judea’s prison because he confronted Herod about his adulterous affair with his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias. A Godly boldness that ultimately led to His death.

Because John is not afraid of the opinions of the religious elite, he is in a position to confront their hypocrisy. As a result, he calls them on their phony showmanship:

8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

How can we determine whether the repentance we declare we are walking in is genuine. Simple. Repentance brings tangible fruit with it

John’s message is clear. Preparing for the savior’s arrival with authenticity will bring a desire to bear fruit filled with the Savior’s character. Love, Joy, Peace, Righteousness, Self-Control

But another interesting point that we see about authentic preparation is that it is not just a result of being. John confronts the Pharisees and Sadducees on their misunderstanding of preparations based simply on inheritance.

And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

John’s point is that Authentic Preparation is not based on previous connections.

Some in the crowd believed that their family lineage was enough preparation for the Savior’s arrival. They were mistaken. There is no pedigree worthy enough or righteous enough to have be credited with repentance.

If you think this is just a principle that John held to as he got people ready for the Savior’s arrival but when Jesus came on the scene things would be different you are wrong.

IN John 8, we see a similar situation with a group of religious elite taking comfort that their family lineage would save them . And to them directly we hear Jesus say the following:

John 8:39–41 ESV

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”

Regarding authentic repentance we also have Paul laying out picture for what it actually should look like!

Acts 26:19–20 ESV

19 “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

We don’t live a life in keeping with Advent in keeping with the Arrival of the Son of the God, if our life is void of His character, void of His impact on it, void of His life in it.

Another quality about our prepared, active, and repentant waiting is that...

Our Prepared, Active, and Repentant Waiting Must Be Loving and Sacrificial

Normally, preparation is a collection and storing of items, but in preparing for the Savior and His Coming Kingdom, John gives us different instructions...SHARE WHAT YOU HAVE

Two of the key markings of Repentance in the Christian Life is a sacrificial love of others and denial of ourselves.

So, after calling for genuine repentance, John is asked by the people who are looking to prepare for the Savior, WHAT SHALL WE DO? Another way to ask that question this morning is what does the authentic, prepared, and repentant waiting look like!

10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do? 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

Look to share your life and your goods with those around you without…Use your resources not with pride of collection and accumulation but with humility and generosity

12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.”

The tax collectors were despised in the culture because they were seen as arms of Rome’s oppression, but also because many were known to use their position and knowledge to exploit the people and take more from them than they were owed. To them John says repentance, looks like treating others with a dignity and honor that reject the world’s way of exploiting people for everything that you can get out them…Use your knowledge to help people not exploit them.

14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

The Soldiers of the culture were often tempted to use their power and authority to take advantage of average citizens. To them, John says repentance looks like treating the weaker and vulnerable around you with care and compassion...Use your power for the empowerment of others and not for the weakening of others…

In John’s instructions to them, we learn that (1) Authentic, Prepared and Repentant Waiting is never distant from our lives. It always lands in the personal. You can’t separate how you turn towards God with how you treat people.

You can’t embrace ADVENT while rejecting people. Love of people and Sacrifice for the other is in the very essence of Advent.

We honor the ADVENT more when we commit ourselves to love of neighbor than we ever could in trimming a tree.

Which leads to another thing we learn in John’s instruction to them. (2) The reason why John urges those seeking repentance to prepare in this way is because they reflect the God who has arrived into the world when they do so.

The Gospel of John tells us that it was a love for the world that led to Jesus coming into the world and sacrificing His own life in order that He might save the world from its sin.

John 3:16 (ESV) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus is constantly, through His life and ministry, showing that this sort of sacrificial love is at the very heart of his nature.

It is Jesus who tells us the rich young ruler in Luke 18 to sell your possessions and you will have treasures in Heaven, come and follow me.

It is Jesus who after hearing Zaccheus, the tax collector, say “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold,” responds with “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

John is preparing the people for the arrival of the Savior by pointing them towards His ways and saying if you truly long for His arrival, you will truly pursue His ways in preparation for that arrival...

When Jesus shows up - He calls those who commit to follow him to pursue His example.

The Authentic, Prepared, and Repentant Life is one that is not marked by words longing for His arrival but acts pursuing His ways. It is marked not just by a desire to see Him arrive but a desire to imitate His example as much as our imperfect lives can show. It is marked not just by receiving the Love that has come through Christ but by sharing that love in the world.

John in calling for repentance as preparation also makes it clear that this is not an move we can afford to delay or hesitate on. This points to our second and significant marking of our waiting.

Second, Prepared Waiting Is Urgent Waiting

John takes hurry up and wait to new levels in verses 16-17

Luke 3:16–17 ESV

16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

John’s word here is not one that totally brings comfort. It is reassuring word for the ones who are preparing, but a horrific word for the ones who opt out.

This Savior who comes carries the power to save, but also carries the power to cleanse with fire.

As He arrives to establish His Kingdom on Earth, He will also remove all that is outside of it. The first arrival to Earth we see His baptism with the Holy Spirit, but should we resist we will encounter fire…

This brings urgency to our preparation. We must seek to turn our hearts to Him.

In fact, it is so urgent that as soon as Jesus arrives to the Jordan River and John baptizes Him. Matthew’s Gospel tells us that Jesus immediately begans His ministry with these words...

Matthew 4:17 ESV

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The Kingdom of God is close. Advent is the annoucement that The King is Here and the complete and total fulfillment of His reign is close. And that means joy for those who bow the knee willingly embracing Him as Lord, but eternal sorrow for those who have to be forced to bow the knee.

And so preparation is in order not just as a good thing but as a necessary thing…

Turn from your sin. Turn from this world. Turn to God. Turn to only begotten Son in which the Father has sent into the World to save it!

Speaking about John and how His words about the Advent can mess with a cheery Christmas feelings, Fleming Rutledge writes:

This unlovable figure is very much out of sync with our times, yet he is one of the foremost figures of Advent, at least in the preaching calendar followed in my own Episcopal Church tradition. Like John the Baptist, Advent is out of phase with its time, with our time. It encroaches upon us in an uncomfortable way, making us feel somewhat uneasy with its stubborn resistance to Christmas cheer. To be sure, we have done a pretty good job of domesticating Advent, and I am by no means above this sort of thing myself. Every year, I used to buy Advent calendars for my children with cute little doors that open and show cute little pictures. I have yet to find an Advent calendar that has a picture of John the Baptist. We really don’t know exactly what to do with him; he doesn’t fit into anything.

But here he is by the river, dressed in the fashion of the wilderness and assaulting the crowds that come out to hear him: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?. . . Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 3:7, 10)...

John does not proclaim Jesus as a captivating infant smiling benevolently at groups of assorted rustics, potentates, and farm animals. Instead, he cries out, “He who is coming after me is mightier than I. . . . His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:11–12).

His arrival is urgent enough for John that He refuses to live a safe life in light of it. He is willing to demonstrate with His very life the urgent nature of our preparation for the Savior. With his confrontation with Herod…

19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

John is willing to lose His life for the arrival of this King. That is literally how urgent it is!

John shows us that the Arrival of the King is about many things, but EARTHLY safety isn’t one of them. In preparing to receive the King, we are preparing to give up on will in order to pursue His. We are preparing to give up our own ideas of life in order to pursue a life lived and found in Jesus Christ!

And yet it is still called good news…

For those who are clinging to this life it is terrible news...For those who realize this life doesn’t possess everything that is necessary to make one whole. To bring one near God. To offer them lasting and eternal satisfaction. It is good news…

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

His arrival was approved by God meaning that what we have longed for has finally arrived in the person and work of Jesus Christ!