Bethel Lutheran Church - Pastor Luke Bernthal Prepare for Christmas ; Luke 3: 1 - 6; 2009-12-06 The Bulletin (order of service) Text: Luke 3: 1 - 6; What do you do to Prepare for Christmas? If you’re like most people you probably do quite a few things. There is the Christmas tree and other Christmas decorations to put up. There is probably baking and cooking that will need to be done for Christmas Day. Perhaps you have guests coming for the Christmas season. There are preparations that need to be made for them as well. Then of course there are the “all-important” Christmas lists: The lists of people you need to get gifts for, and, of course, your own wish-list of gifts that you hope to receive from others. Well, if you were to mentally look over your “list” of things you need to do to Prepare for Christmas this year did you write down anywhere on that list the need to repent? “Let’s see: ‘buy presents for the grandkids’…’put up the Christmas tree’…‘get the guest bedroom ready’…’cook the turkey’…‘repent.’” No? Not on your Christmas “to do list?” Why not? Did you know that this is the most important thing you can do to truly Prepare for Christmas? Did you know that repentance is exactly what God used to prepare the hearts of His people for the very first Christmas? It’s true. As we read in our sermon text at the time of Jesus first coming into this world God sent John the Baptist with the special calling of being Jesus’ “forerunner,” the one who would go immediately before Jesus to prepare the hearts and lives of the people for His coming. The message that John the Baptist was sent to preach to the people of Judea to prepare them for the coming Christ was a message of repentance. Luke tells us in our text that John “went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission [forgiveness] of sins” (Luke 3:3). John’s preaching was the essence of what it means to “repent.” The words for “repent” and “repentance” in Greek indicate a turning around. The words literally mean, “to change one’s mind.” The “change of mind” that occurs when repentance takes place in the Biblical sense is a complete change of one’s life: a complete turn around from sin and the desires of our flesh to God and His will. This complete turn around, this “change of mind,” cannot be accomplished by the will or strength of man himself, however. It is by God alone, through the power of His word that His message of repentance turns people’s lives around and changes their minds from minds set on the flesh and things of this life, to the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). This is exactly what God accomplished through John the Baptist. The angel Gabriel prophesied about John to his father, Zacharias, as we read in our Gospel reading: "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:16-17). This message of repentance was the exact same message Jesus came to preach to the people. In Matthew 3 we read, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’" (Matthew 3:1-2). In Matthew 4 we read, From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). The “kingdom of heaven” that John and Jesus preached about was not an earthly kingdom that Christ came to earth to establish, but rather it refers to the spiritual ruling that God does in the hearts of His people through His Holy Word. This is the exact same message that God intends to bring to our hearts this Advent season and every day of our lives. He wants to work in our lives a complete turn around, a “change of mind,” from minds and hearts that are set on our sinful desires and the clutter and cares of this world, to minds and hearts that are “prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). He wants to rule in our hearts and make each one of us eternal citizens of the “kingdom of heaven.” This message of “preparation” that John would preach would be the same message that Isaiah had prophesied 700 years before John’s birth. Luke quotes from the prophet Isaiah in our text, “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3:4-6). The descriptive words of this prophecy point to the ancient Middle-Eastern custom of beautifying and preparing a road to welcome a coming king. In order to show him the proper reverence and make his journey as smooth as possible the people of the host country would build up the low spots, level off the steep high roads, and straighten out the crooked paths. Even with modern equipment repairing and rebuilding a roadway is a monumental task! Think of how difficult it would have been back then! This painstaking, backbreaking task of preparation for these ancient people was a show of great respect and loyalty to the coming king. These words present a very vivid picture of the spiritual preparation of our hearts for the entrance of our King, Jesus Christ. This preparation was, and still is a monumental task, and one that from beginning to end is accomplished by God’s grace. Our hearts were a barren, uninhabitable wilderness: a dry, dead desert of sin and unbelief. Not a fitting place for the King of Kings. But God Himself sent His message to our hearts in the Word and water of Baptism and accomplished the monumental task of completely changing our hearts, turning them around in repentance and faith, in preparation for the Lord Jesus. This preparation is what we turn our attention to once again this Advent season. Are our hearts a proper dwelling place for our coming King to live and reign in? Are there “valleys” of shameful sins in our lives that need to “be filled” by the peace-giving Gospel message of forgiveness? Are there “hills” and “mountains” of pride and self-righteousness over our faithfulness, our church attendance (or church affiliation) that need to be “brought low” and cut down by the humbling, convicting words of God’s Holy Law? Are there “crooked places” of deceit and dishonesty in our lives? Are there “rough ways” of filthy talk, foul language and “less-than-sanctified” living that need to be straightened and smoothed out by the life-changing, heart-turning message of God’s powerful Gospel? The answer for all of us is a resounding confession of “Yes!” We need the consuming fire of God’s Word to purge the wasteland of sinfulness from our hearts, and restore it to purity by the cleansing message of forgiveness, which our coming King came to this earth to bring us by His perfect life, innocent death, and victorious resurrection from the grave. This is the good news of the God-Man, Jesus Christ that Isaiah prophesied of in our text, “And all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3:6). God’s glorious salvation is found only in the person of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. How do you Prepare for Christmas? Are you prepared for the coming of Christ—both the celebration of His birth at Christmas and the anticipation of His coming again on the Last Day? We know how the world prepares for Christmas, and sadly, the preparations do not even include Christ, the true reason for Christmas. The billions of dollars that are spent and the countless hours that are invested into decorations and preparations for the holiday are staggering. If only that extravagance and “hype” were spent completely on the true meaning of Christmas. Let’s not just point our fingers at “the world” or at “others,” however. If only we too would spend as many dollars and hours preparing for the true meaning of Christmas, as we do preparing for the externals. We need to listen again to the message of the one whom God sent to prepare His people for the very first Christmas. Listen again to the message of John the Baptist. His message contained the true meaning of Christmas, the true meaning of life itself. It is that message which works repentance in our lives, properly prepares “the way of the Lord” in our hearts, and truly makes us Prepared for Christmas. That is why we sang in the last verse of our previous hymn: Prepare my heart, Lord Jesus Turn not from me aside,And grant that I receive Thee This blessed Advent tide.From stall and manger low Come Thou to dwell within me; Loud praises will I sing Thee And forth Thy glory show! Amen. (Hymn 75 v. 4 – TLH) |