Second Sunday of Advent

Preparation

One of the things I love about parenting is watching your children have new experiences. I’ve watched all three of my daughters start their first day of preschool, and then their first day of big school.

I remember the early times when they went swimming in a pool and at the beach. I remember teaching them to first ride their bikes.

Now with each of these new experiences, and many more, there’s something interesting that I’ve observed. You see, there is a preparation of sort that happens before they start.

I’m not talking about the preparation of learning new skills. Those skills can’t come before they start. You know, you can’t learn the skills required for swimming until you’re actually in the pool.

I’m actually talking about the mindset that you take into each of these new experiences.

Let’s take the first day of school. Not only did I watch my own kids, you can also see how other kids react. And what you notice is a big spectrum.

Some come with tears. They don’t want to leave their parents. They’re nervous and apprehensive.

Others however are as keen as anything. Their excitement of something new means they almost forget to say goodbye to their parents.

Now, in part, the personality of the child will come into play with how they react to these new experiences, but I want to suggest that it is also in their preparation.

As I just mentioned, its not a preparation of skills, but changing their mindset.

They need to go from seeing school as a scary, heartless, difficult place, to a place where they can thrive, make friends, and have fun.

That mindset comes in the preparation.

It’s why schools have orientation days in the year before.

But very significantly, it’s going to be when someone they trust can reassure them that this is a good thing, that they’ll be in a better position to accept their new environment.

Our prep

This morning I want to come back to the thing I was talking about last week - preparing to meet Jesus.

But rather then the specifics of Jesus’ return, instead my focus is going to be on our preparation for that.

Now I’m going to draw a parallel with this preparation and the preparation we see in children as they embark on a new experience. It’s not going to be a perfect parallel, but I think there is something we can learn from it.

You see, as we prepare to encounter Jesus, it’s actually not new skills we need. It is actually a different mind set.

John the Baptist

Well, to do this, I’m going to take us to one of those odd people in the Bible. (Actually, have you ever noticed that the Bible is full of odd and interesting people?)

I’m talking about John the Baptist.

So let’s first consider who this man is before I come back and see what he has to offer in terms of preparing ourselves.

So, John the Baptist features in the early parts of each of the four gospels.

In Luke’s gospel, we actually get the account of his birth before Jesus gets a mention.

John was the son of Zechariah the priest (and of course, we all know that ministers kids are… well…). Well, Zechariah was married to Elizabeth, and we find out that Elizabeth is actually the cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Well, after his birth, we’re not told a lot - except the one verse in Luke 1:80 which says: “And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel”.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve sometimes wondered what it was that drove young John to the wilderness. But we’d only be speculating, so it probably doesn’t really matter.

But is important, is that he gained a period of popularity just before Jesus began his big public ministry. In fact if you look at Mark 1:5 it says: “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him”.

How did he gain his popularity? Well, again it doesn’t really say why his actions gained such attention, however, I feel I am on very safe ground when I suggest that it was the Holy Spirit that was directing things at this point.

You see, as we will soon look at, what John the Baptist was doing was very important in the preparation of the people.

Wild man

But before we do that, let me first just give a brief consideration to the description we get of this man.

Look at Mark 1:6 which says: “John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.”

Now I know that this was in a different culture than ours and so things that seem odd to us might have been quite normal then. However, on this occasion, I think its fairly safe to say that this was not the usual way of things even for this time - hence the reason that they’ve bothered to describe it.

And so we can ask, what is going on? Why is John the Baptist like this?

Well, interestingly, there was another Old Testament character that was known for wearing a similar outfit. I’m talking of Elijah. 2 Kings 1:8 suggests Elijah was known as wearing: “…a garment of hair and had a leather belt round his waist”.

Now here’s the thing about Elijah. In the very last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament, that is, Malachi 4, we get the prophecy that Elijah will be sent before the coming of the Lord.

And the connection between Elijah and John the Baptist is spelt out for us clearly by Jesus, who in Matthew 17:11-13, says that John fulfills that prophecy of Elijah coming beforehand.

The prophecy

Well, at this point in proceedings, this prophecy only has a vague allusion to it now, but in all four of the gospel, we find a quote from the book of Isaiah pointing us to another prophecy.

Although having said its from Isaiah (which even Mark, the author of the gospel I’ll be focussing on today claims), a closer inspection shows that the first part of the quote comes from Malachi, the prophet I just mentioned a moment ago. But as the main thrust of the message comes in the second half, it’s reasonable to call it from Isaiah.

So it is in Mark 1:3 that the Isaiah part of the quote starts. It says: “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him’”.

It is those words: “…prepare the way for the Lord...” which becomes critical.

You see, we’re likely quite familiar with the prophecies of Jesus that we find in the Old Testament, but back there in the book as well, it is also clear that there will be a character that precedes the Messiah that will be making the way ready.

The Message

So the big question for us then, is what is it that will prepare us for Jesus?

Well, Mark 1:4 tells us the message that John preached. It says: “And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”.

The key word I think we need to pick up on is: “Repentance”.

And this is in fact the preparation I believe we are being called to.

Repentance

So what is repentance?

Well, essentially the word is derived for the notion of doing a 180 degree turn and returning.

In this context, it means to recognise that we are sinners and that we need to move in the complete different direction to what our natural inclination is.

Now I say that repentance is just the preparation. That’s because, the ability to actually go in the other direction does not come from our own ability. To do that we need Jesus.

But here’s the thing. How is Jesus going to do anything when we don’t even recognise that there is anything to do.

You know, I’ve heard the criticism a number of times (… I might even have uttered it myself at times): why can’t God just save everyone?

Well I think the answer is actually quite simple. It’s not that God can’t save everyone. It’s actually that most people don’t want to turn from their own way. They are quite happy going along in their own little way.

So here’s the thing. Unless you are prepared to acknowledge that we can’t live how we should on our own, and that unless we change, things will stay the same, then we will not be ready for Jesus to enter our lives.

In some ways this is quite simple, but while being simple, it is actually huge.

It is really just a matter of a change of mindset, but it makes all the difference. It is the difference between accepting what Jesus has to offer, and rejecting it.

If you cannot make this simple, yet profound change, then you will not be ready for Jesus. Not now. And not when he comes again.

Once we prepare like this, we then are ready to have our sins forgiven, and this is what Jesus does.

Let me just get this straight, because we can easily get it the wrong way. Our job is not to try and straighten our life out. Our job is to prepare ourselves by becoming repentant, and Jesus does the rest.

Attitude of repentance

But there is a point worth clarifying. You see, knowing that we need to be repentant there is a question which can be quite worrying. What if we die with unrepentant sin in our life.

A crude example: You get angry with your spouse, say somethings you’ll later regret, and in your rage storm out and die in a car crash before you have time to repent.

As I said, it’s a bit of a crude example, but will you be rejected by Jesus because you has unrepented sin in your life?

Well, I’m going to suggest that this shouldn’t be a big concern. God knows what is in our hearts, and if we die in the heat of a rash moment, God will know whether you have been truly transformed by Christ.

You see, you need to realise that we don’t suddenly become unsaved every time we sin, and then re-saved when we repent.

The constant act of repentance is a good practice because it is a constant reminder to stay on track, but once you are saved, God will hold you safe.

Our own repentance

Well, by way of application I have two main points that I want to make.

The first one is perhaps the obvious application so let’s start with that. You see, the most important thing is that we have repentance in our own life.

To do this, we need to be honest.

And to do this, we need to avoid one of the big traps that the devil like to place. It’s the trap of self-righteousness. It was a trap that many of the Jewish people fell down, and its a trap that we fall down today.

The trap works for people that you might consider ‘good enough’. That is, for those who haven’t done any of those things that society condemns.

And so what happens, is we start comparing ourselves. But not just anyone. We compare ourselves with the people on the news. The rapist, murderers, drug dealer, con man, whatever...

We say, well, I’m not that bad. So I must be pretty good.

Jesus once told a short parable we call the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14), where the Pharisee says: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector”.

Jesus then compares this self-righteous man with a tax collector who prays: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.

You see, the problem with self-righteousness, is that we think we have nothing that needs repenting of. But if that is the case - what do you need a saviour for?

The reality is, we need to stop comparing ourselves with others. There’s only one person that we should be comparing ourselves with, and that is Jesus - and I can guarantee, you will not match up in your own strength.

I’m not saying this to get you down. It doesn’t need to because Christ is ready to make some serious changes in your life.

But it must start with repentance. This is the preparation that we need.

That repentance is required at our initial conversion, where Christ transforms us. But it is also something we should cultivate ongoing, not to make us more saved (you can’t be more saved: you’re either saved or your not), but as I’ve mentioned before, an ongoing posture of repentance helps us to keep on track with the Lord.

Pointing others to repentance

Now earlier I said I want to make two main points in my application in this message. The first is about our own personal repentance.

The second however, has come from a reflection on John’s ministry to others. You see, John was the messenger that was sent ahead of Jesus to prepare the way.

So it made me think - how can we be like John and continue to prepare the way for Jesus?

You see, the reality is that there are millions (billions if we consider the whole world) of people who don’t realise they have a need for a saviour.

We claim, ‘Jesus saves’, but the world thinks: ‘from what?’.

The world seems to think that as long as we can solve the problem of the worst of the worst offenders, then we’ll be right. The reality however, is that the same selfish spirit that is in those offenders, also exist within everyone.

We don’t need saving from a few nasty people, we need saving from ourselves.

People need to hear that. They need to hear that there is a better way.

Now in giving this message, you might be labelled a bit odd. But then again, just look at John the Baptist - there you’ll find something odd.

But odd doesn’t have to be a bad thing. You see, this odd man in John just so happen to attract people from everywhere. They all came out to see him.

I believe that is because ultimately there is something attractive in us when we allow the Spirit to speak through us.

Now don’t think you then have to convert them. In fact, that’s not your job. Actually, to be blunt, you can’t convert someone. A person’s conversion is actually an act of the Holy Spirit. Our job is in the preparation. Helping them to see the need so that they then turn.

Starting school

Let me come back to my opening illustration of my kids starting school. You see, I didn’t actually tell you how well it went for my kids.

Now for Elise, my eldest, it went well. She did quite happily go, but there was a little bit of apprehension.

But with Sienna, my second child - it was quite different. She jumped in that front door as quick as she could.

And in part, that’s because she had been able to watch her sister go through it. She had seen that school was a good thing. She didn’t have any apprehension - why should she?

You could say my eldest daughter prepared the way for her sister to have a good first experience.

And that’s what we can do for others. We can show them that there is something better. We can tell them that they don’t have to keep living with the weight of the world on their shoulders, because there is a better way.

Jesus is the one that makes the change. But we can prepare people to meet him.

Advent reflection

We are now starting the second week in Advent and so we are still thinking about the return of Jesus.

There’s lots of things said about his return in the Bible, but there is such an important first step in all of it, and if we are not prepared in this way, then we’re going to miss the boat.

You see, if we don’t start with repentance, then the second coming of our Lord is not going to end well. If we’ve made the stand: thanks Jesus, but I’d rather do things my own way, then how can it end well?

But through repentance, we start to experience the change now.

Through repentance, the Spirit will move in your life and allow the transformation to begin - the transformation that will be complete on that day when Jesus returns.

Are you prepared for that great day when Jesus returns?

Let me pray...