Advent Trinity December 9

John 1:6-8 (NIV) 6  There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7  He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8  He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. John 1:22-27 (NIV) 22  Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23  John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'" 24  Now some Pharisees who had been sent 25  questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26  "I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. 27  He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."

The Church season of Advent includes the four Sundays that take place before Christmas Day. It is a time of preparation — of getting ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I’m sure we all know how important it is to prepare for Christmas. It seems that there is so much to do.

Putting up and decorating a Christmas tree whether it is freshly cut or the one we store in the basement and haul up the stairs right after Thanksgiving. We may use the same ornaments or decide to go another route and have a new theme.

Other decorations in and around the house. Some people go all out with lights and blow up figures and outdoor manger scenes and others are less extravagant. It is enjoyable to drive around and see the decorations especially if there has been some snow.

Christmas is a time when many people do special baking and families may gather together to bake and decorate Christmas cookies and other delights.

Those who enjoy an adult beverage may need to get the ingredients for those festive drinks.

Of course, it doesn’t seem that it would be Christmas without the gift buying and giving and all the shopping that needs to be done.

Families gather together and the places they meet need to be ready.

Playlists of Christmas songs are enjoyed either recorded or in person.

Concerts, caroling, visiting though limited are a big part of the season.

Activities ramp up at church and school.

You would have to live under a rock if you didn’t realize that a very special holiday was coming and that you needed to prepare for it.

But getting ready to celebrate Christmas is more than getting ready for a holiday. As Christians we focus on “The Reason for the Season” and train ourselves to focus on Jesus and not just all the secular celebrations associated with Christmas. The themes of our Sunday worship services focus on the coming of Jesus (Advent means coming) and we reconsider when he will come again, how he came into his public ministry, and how he came into the world as the child of the virgin Mary.

Many congregations will add a special series of worship services to reinforce this. Here at Trinity we have limited it to just this special worship service. Our focus this evening is on how John the Baptist prepared the hearts of people for the coming of Jesus into his public ministry.

John began his work of preparation about six months before the baptism of Jesus. He and his work are familiar to us. We picture a 30 year-old man in the wilderness wearing rough clothes with long hair a beard. He stood out as a forceful preacher who called people to repentance and for those who confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. The people of Israel had not witnessed such a stand out person in their lifetime but he reminded them of what they had heard and read about the Old Testament prophets who at times were somewhat eccentric as well.

Because he was unique, they wondered if he was someone who had been predicted in the Old Testament.

Christ? Reveals that there were Messianic expectations.

Elijah? Since Elijah had not died, they believed (and some still do) that Elijah must return from heaven first. Later Jesus teaches that even though John was not Elijah, he was the one who came in the “spirit of Elijah”.

The Prophet? Reference to Moses saying that God would send a prophet like him. (That was a reference to the Messiah.)

Who are you? They recognized that John was unique and that his work was significant.

The voice of one calling in the desert, “Make straight the way for the Lord.” Isaiah in chapter 40 had prophesied the work of the forerunner. The description of one preparing the way is familiar to us.

Picture is of preparations made before a member of the royalty came to visit.

The hearts of the people needed to be prepared with the Law so that they could receive the Gospel. One illustration is that our hearts are so crowded with sin and evil that it must be cleansed by repentance (turning from sin) for “Christ to enter in.” (Illustration of a crowded venue filled to capacity and how we cannot enter until someone else has left. )

The last part of our text refers to the baptism of John. Those questioning John seem to understand that the Christ would be baptizing. Elsewhere John compares his baptism with water to Jesus’ future baptizing of people with the Holy Spirit.

At the end of our text John emphasizes his role is inferior to that of Jesus. “He must increase and I must decrease.”

He understood that Jesus was much more important than him. We also understand the importance of Jesus in our relationship with God.

Conclusion: We have a tendency to think of ourselves as perhaps the most important people in the room. At Christmas we do turn our attention away from ourselves and focus on the children. Consider for a moment how we do put aside our own ego so that this can be such a special time for children — even to the extent that we may donate toys for tots etc. Not a bad gesture by any means. As Christians, we focus our attention on that very special child, Jesus Christ. Although John prepared the way for the public ministry of Jesus, we can use his message to prepare our hearts for celebrating his birth as well. Amen.