Part one}
Luke 2: 10-11; 3: 3-4
One Sunday morning a neatly dressed man stood right up in the middle of the worship service, and from the balcony shouted in a clear voice:
"I have a word from the Lord." Almost immediately ushers escorted the man out the front door of the church. Week after week those of us known as preachers stand in the pulpit and announce: "I have a word from the Lord." It is possible the fellow in the balcony was a crank, but let us not miss the point; just maybe he was an Isaiah or Ezekiel - we'll never know.
My point is, God's word often surprises us, even disturbs us. And often God's word comes from places we least expect it. John the Baptist was one of those balcony kind of people. He would have stood out in any congregation. Yet this was the man God chose to announce the coming of the Messiah,
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness ... saying ... prepare ye the way of the Lord .... 3:4."
Over our 59 years of marriage we have accumulated and discarded lots of decoration. And it has always been a big deal for the Moore’s when they make their annual re-entry - all those decorations. The house and yard is alive with Christmas now - for a while. But before very long, we will reverse the exercise, repack everything in their aging boxes, and put them back in storage for another year. We unpack Christmas decoration when we want it and we put decoration away when we don't want it.
You can do that with Christmas decoration; but you can't do that with Christ. A lot of people try to. We haul out Jesus when we'd like to have Him be a part of things - on Sundays, for Christmas, when we're in a jam, when we want to be religious. But, to be honest, we keep Him largely at the edges of our life. Mostly in our head, not really in our heart. We prepare our hearts for the Christ’s coming. We are buying gifts - decorating trees, bake treats for the family and friends.
Yes, the preparation and anticipation are part of the JOY of Christmas. But are such preparations adequate? In light of John’s message, no. There are some things we need to do if we are truly going to be ready for His coming.
Preparation for the coming of Christ means, first of all, “Repentance.” Luke tells us
(V.3) that John came “preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” Give it some thought; how else would one prepare for the coming of the Son of God? Christianity has no message for those who do not realize they are sinners. John’s word is a word of repentance. If there is something shoddy in our lives, something degrading, get rid of it.
Zig Ziglar tells how his mother showed him how to hoe some beans; and she said, when you are through, "call me." Sometime later he called his mother, and after she had inspected his work she said: "Son, you have got to do it over. For most boys this would be alright, but you are not most boys, you are my son and my son can do better than this."
That was John's message to our world. God's children can do better than we are doing. "OUR COMFORT ZONE" is just that. The first step is preparation for the coming King of Kings is repentance. Moving out of the Comfort Zone.
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In "HIS" Service