Preparing for Christ Never Changes!

2nd Sunday in Advent, 12/4/11
Mark 1:1-8


Preparing for Christ Never Changes!
I. It always involves true repentance.
II. It always focuses on Christ.


Christmas traditions. We all have them to one degree or another. Maybe your family always goes out on a particular day before Christmas and cuts down a live tree. Maybe you decorate the outside of your house the same way every year. Maybe you have a particular food item or menu of items on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Perhaps you observe a traditional Christmas toast with family and friends. Perhaps your children participate with you in a tradition of counting down the days until Christmas.

Closely related to our Christmas traditions are our Christmas rituals. Those rituals are often less glamorous and meaningful than our Christmas traditions, but they’re important nonetheless. You might consider your Christmas shopping to be an annual ritual. And if you purchase gifts, then you need to go through the ritual of wrapping them. Decorating your tree or house might be more of a ritual than a tradition. You go through them whether you enjoy them or not. They need to be done.

Year after year, we go through the same traditions and rituals at this time of year.

But there’s another activity that we all need to undertake and it’s far more important than all the rest. It’s neither a Christmas tradition nor a ritual. It’s getting ready for your Savior. But it’s similar to our traditions and rituals in that it never changes. Preparing for Christ never changes. To make sure we get it right, let’s listen to the words of the one sent by God to prepare people for Christ, John the Baptist.

Part I.

I noticed this year that the Christmas advertising barrage began right after Halloween. I imagine you’re as tired of it by now as I am. But the advertising will continue right up until Dec. 24. And the goal of the advertisers is to create a need or a desire. They want you to believe that you or your loved one truly needs and/or desires that particular item. In fact, they want you to think that your Christmas won’t be merry unless you purchase what they’re selling. Apparently it works, otherwise we wouldn’t be subjected to it.

Have you ever wondered how people can celebrate Christmas and leave Christ out of it? Basically I think it boils down to one thing: they feel no need for Christ. They have no desire for a Savior. Think about it. If I have no concept of what my sins are and no realization of the eternal hell that I deserve for them, then why wouldn’t I leave Christ out of my Christmas celebration? What’s more, bringing Christ into my Christmas also means I’ll have to listen to what he says to me in his word, and that would mean major changes in my thinking and my way of life. Such people feel fine just the way they are and feel no need for a Savior. Thus they make no preparations for him.

And, believe it or not, we may get so busy at this time of year that we get dangerously close to that spiritual disaster. We’ve got too many things to do to consider our sinfulness. What’s more, it’s such a downer. This is such a happy time of year. Why ponder what our transgressions are? We can do that next month.

But that will leave you unprepared for Christ, especially for his return to this earth. Mark begins his gospel by relating how God sent John the Baptist to prepare the people for the coming of Christ. John didn’t do that by spreading a feel-good message. He didn’t deliver a daily 5-point motivational speech on how to attain purpose, happiness and success in your life. According to Matthew, his daily sermon theme was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven in near” (Mt. 3:2). Preparing for Christ means repenting and that never changes.

True repentance involves two things. First, it acknowledges and confesses sin. That means admitting that we haven’t just made mistakes that need correcting. We’ve violated the holy law of the holy God and often we’ve done it willfully. Like our first parents Adam and Eve, we know that God says “No!’ but we think we know better and we do it anyway. What’s more, we sin without even knowing it. We sin so often we can’t keep track of them all. And every one of them makes us guilty before God. Every one of them rightfully deserves eternal separation from God. Confessing it gets us ready for Christ.

But don’t stop there in getting ready for Christ. There’s one more thing and it’s something only God can do: trust in Christ for your forgiveness. That trust or faith in Jesus is something the Holy Spirit works in you through the word and sacraments. That faith takes hold of the forgiveness Jesus won for you on Calvary’s cross and makes it your own. With that faith you’re prepared for Christ.

And that never changes.

Earlier this morning you joined me in confessing, “In countless ways I have sinned against you and do not deserve to be called your child.” It’s easy to slide right over those words without giving them much thought, but they’re true, aren’t they? Every day our lousy attitude, our thoughtlessness and selfishness, our hasty and wrong judgments of others, our lust and discontent, our worries and anxieties, to say nothing of our sinful deeds, all provide the damning evidence that those words are painfully true. We have sinned in countless ways. But that’s how we prepare for Christ and it never changes. Thank God it never changes or we’d wonder what it is we’re supposed to do this year to get ready for Christ! And then our God comes to us with his gracious good news of our forgiveness through Christ alone, a forgiveness he won for us and brings to us. We do nothing. Our God does it all. Ponder how he prepares us for his coming and lay hold of it by faith in Jesus!

Part II.

Distractions. Life is full of them. Some of them are enjoyable, such as pausing for a minute to watch the snow gently fall while you sit working in your office on a hectic day. But often distractions are harmful, even deadly. A distracted driver can bring death to himself and others.

There are many blessings we can enjoy this month. There are joyful gatherings with friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members. There are thoughtful gifts to give and receive. There are memorable Christmas carols and hymns to enjoy all over again. There are special meals and snacks that are available only at this time of year. There are countless displays to see and enjoy. There are favorite Christmas movies, shows, concerts and presentations. Again, these are all blessings from our God for us to enjoy.

But Satan uses them as distractions, and he has succeeded far too often with far too many people. You don’t have to look far or long to find someone for whom all or some of these blessings have become the focus on the season to the neglect of the One whose birth is the reason for the season.

It happened during Jesus’ days on earth as well. Think about it. Relatively few people witnessed his miraculous birth. And when the time came for him to begin his earthly ministry, the people, by and large, were distracted with their own lives and were unconcerned about a Savior from sin.

So that’s why John the Baptist came. He came to focus their attention on Christ. He told the people, “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

John was a popular preacher. Our text says that people from all over Judea came out into the desert to hear him preach. He was powerful. But John took their focus off of him and turned it toward Christ. He admitted that he was unworthy of doing the most menial tasks for Christ such as untying his sandals. Why would John say that? Because he was a sinner like the rest of us and Jesus was none other than the holy Son of God. There was no one as great as Jesus. There never was and never will be. The focus rightfully is on him!

Furthermore, consider the gifts Jesus is bringing with him. John speaks about Jesus baptizing with the Holy Spirit. In other words, after Jesus had finished his work, he would pour out his Holy Spirit in rich measure. It started at Pentecost and continues today. Jesus once called the Holy Spirit the best gift that his Father can give anyone. That’s because the Holy Spirit brings with him the great gifts of forgiveness, life as a child of God and eternal salvation. Those are the great gifts Jesus came to win for us. Those are the great gifts Jesus gives us through his Holy Spirit. For many of us those gifts came to us for the first time at our baptisms. And now the Holy Spirit seals those gifts for us through his word and the Lord’s Supper. That also happens to be the way we prepare for our Lord’s coming.

Preparing for Christ never changes. It always focuses on Christ.

That sounds redundant, doesn’t it? Preparing for Christ focuses on Christ. Of course it does. But we know it needs to be stated and restated because we’re so easily distracted. It’s all the things that make up Christmas for us—most of them blessings from God—but we misuse those blessings when they take priority over Christ. And it’s not just this month. It’s throughout the year. Our lives are so full of things we think we must do that we get distracted from the One towards whom all of time and history point—our Savior, Jesus Christ. So take the time to prepare for him. Pick up a daily devotion. Check our synod’s website for a new one every day. Read a few chapters of your Bible. Make sure that worship is an important part of your Christmas celebration. Without Christ, there would be nothing to celebrate. And don’t bother trying to find a new way to prepare for him. Preparing for Christ never changes. It always involves repentance and it always focuses on Christ.

So get ready! Jesus has promised to return. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! Amen.