Preparing for Peace

Despair-Hope/Repentance-Peace

Intro the story of Oh the Deep Deep Love of Jesus. Reminder of how Christ transformed his suicidal desperate demise into a glorious hope and a future.

Looking down into the icy waters he was tempted to take life’s final plunge, when he remembered words he uttered at his baptism “I believe in Jesus Christ and I put my whole trust in him as my savior.”

As I sing this hymn I can’t help but think of the waters of baptism all around me, symbolizing the love of Christ, the love of God cleansing me from all unrighteousness.

This morning on this second Sunday of Advent we hear the voice of one crying out in the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD! Calling God’s people to repent and join him in the waters of baptism for the forgiveness of their sins. This repentance, this washing is the way God’s people are to prepare for the arrival of Jesus Christ, the son of the living God.

As the people of God we must hear the word of the LORD this morning, to repent and prepare the way for the coming of Christ. We must hear the voice of one Crying out in the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD.

Our first step in preparing the way is to repent, remember the waters of our baptism and our LORD who has saved us.

Preparing the way

John the Baptist is the voice from Isaiah shouting in the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD! Who was John the Baptist?

Keynote Speaker introduction

John the Baptist was Jesus the Nazarene’s Introducer. He gave people a precursor of who was coming to speak after him. His job was to prepare the people of God for the imminent coming of Christ, God in human flesh.

His message was for God’s chosen people to prepare the way. It was a message to prepare for what God was about to do through Christ earthly ministry. It was a message for God’s people to come and wash in the waters of baptism for the forgiveness of their sins so they would be ready to clear the road for the LORD!

Wilderness

Leviticus 16:20–21 NLT

20 “When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place and the Tabernacle and the altar, he must present the live goat. 21 He will lay both of his hands on the goat’s head and confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion, and sins of the people of Israel. In this way, he will transfer the people’s sins to the head of the goat. Then a man specially chosen for the task will drive the goat into the wilderness.

In preparation for the 2nd Sunday of Advent twice I am reminded of a voice crying out in the wilderness, (Isaiah 40:1-11, Mark 1:1-8) prepare the way for the Lord! On the Day of Atonement the high priest would lay the sins of the people onto a scapegoat. The goat would be released in the wilderness carrying with him the sins of the people. Now from that very same wilderness, from where the sins of the people have piled up for millenia, we hear the voice of John the Baptist calling people to a baptism of repentance.

He was calling the people of God to symbolic washing of their sins. This wasn’t an initiation of new converts but a ritualistic cleansing that was common in Jewish faith and tradition. Many Jewish homes in the times of Christ had ritualistic bathing spots called Mikvahs that they would bathe in daily to cleanse themselves of sin.

They didn’t just have Mikvah’s as a cleansing custom but they had hand washing customs as well we can see these at work in Luke 11:37-41.

Since cleanliness was next to Godliness in Jewish tradition they had an obsession with bathing and washing the outside of things. We can see this again at work in Matthew 23:27-28

One is Coming after me

Now we get to the introduction of John the Baptist. The reason he is calling people into the wilderness to confess their sins that have piled up for millennia, to repent or turn from them, and receive forgiveness, through the symbolic washing in the waters of baptism. It is time for him to make his introduction of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.

John makes his introduction of Christ by telling the people that someone much greater than him is coming after him. So much greater that John isn’t even worthy to stoop down and do the work of a slave and untie his sandals to wash his feet. Yet at the end of Christ’s earthly ministry we see him washing his disciples feet.

Water is a great cleansing agent. No matter how much we wash on the outside water will never clean us inside. John baptized the people with water but Jesus Christ is coming to baptize, which actually means immerse, with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit working in and through us cleanses us from the inside out. Christ has come to pour out his spirit on all flesh. Without the work of the spirit we are no better than pharisees. We are white washed tombs.

The Good news almighty God wants us his people to hear today, that peace with God is restored through repentance, the waters of baptism symbolize the forgiveness of our sin, so the work of the Holy Spirit can begin in you.

Repentance restores Peace

Repentance was a recurring theme this week as I wrestled with this passage. With peace being the theme for the second week of advent I asked God how does peace tie in with repentance. Then it dawned on me the only way for us humanity to restore peace in our relationship with God is to repent. Repentance restores peace to troubled relationships.

As we hear the voice shouting in the wilderness, calling God’s people to repent let’s take some time to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit crying out with in us, showing us how we individually and as a church need to repent.

We pray for revival. Revival starts with us how do we need to prepare ourselves, and our church to remove the barriers that keep people from coming to know the love of Christ, that has come, that is here, and that will come again?