It is the Christmas season once again! I love this time of the year. All of the wonderful stories of love and caring and sharing. All of the wonderful songs we sing at this time of the year, every year, are again being heard all around us. Yet it all makes us wonder, have we heard these stories and songs so much that they have lost much of their true meaning to us?
Often when we hear the same thing all the time, it tends to become less and less meaningful, less and less important to us. Every day from now until Christmas, between the advertising designed to inform us that we just can’t live without whatever the product is that particular store is hawking, we will hear that it is the time of the year for hugging, a time for family and friends, a time for charity and giving. Oh yes, we are told “It is the season, and we must prepare!” Prepare? Prepare for what? Prepare? How?
Many tell us that we are to prepare by going out and purchasing all of the latest trendy items. We must prepare by stringing thousands and thousands of brightly colored lights on anything that doesn’t move (and some things that do). We must prepare by cooking and baking until our stoves and ovens wear out. (Of course we will need to replace them.) We must prepare by wishing everyone we meet, “Happy Holidays!” (I thought this was Christmas, but my liberal friends say that is too narrow-minded. And of course, at this time of year especially, we don’t want to offend anyone.) Well, most of those things mentioned are a part of the season as we wait for the Christmas day celebration of the birth of our Savior and Lord, but is that the true way for us to prepare ourselves?
Meet John the Baptizer. John is different from most others. He wears camel-hair clothing with a leather belt (probably homemade) tied about his waist. Instead of turkey and fixin’s, John eats locusts and wild honey. John would probably have done well on the television reality show Survivor. Then again, come to think of it, John would probably have been the very first one voted off the island for his world-view and the things he said. John doesn’t use all of the clichés, all of the sappy-sweet talk and words that we hear every December. He would not be a good salesman, because he doesn’t try to sweet-talk anyone into anything. And he definitely would not make a good politician in this day and age, because he doesn’t sugarcoat anything. He doesn’t care about matching his words with the popular opinion polls of the day. John doesn’t care in the least about what you think of him. John will tell you like it is and his message will hit you right between the eyes.
Suppose John the Baptizer would walk through those doors right now. What do you think he would say to us about preparing for Christmas? How would he talk to us? Well, I believe John would first give us his credentials, his authority to speak. John would say to us, “I am he the prophet Isaiah spoke of when he said, ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, a voice calling in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’”
Yes, John was spoken of in the Old Testament and he had a job to do. John was to prepare people for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. That is what John would do for us, if he came into our church today. He would work on preparing us for the Christmas celebration of the birth of Christ, and he would also work on preparing us for the second coming of Christ. What, then, would be his message? Would it change from his message of long ago? I think not. I believe he would “come baptizing and preaching a baptism of repentance” just as he did some 2000 years ago.
How would we respond? I know how I would have responded not too many years ago. I would have thought something like, “What does this guy know? I’m fine just the way I am. I don’t need to change. I’m a pretty good guy. I know I’m not perfect, but I’m okay.” Unfortunately, far, far too many people still react that way today. “I’m not perfect,” they say, “but then again, nobody’s perfect.”
And that, folks, is the rub. It is absolutely true! Nobody is perfect! The problem is that God has made it abundantly clear that He is not satisfied with anyone who is not perfect!
How do I know all of this? I know because Jesus Christ says, “Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” But you and I have already admitted that we know that we are not perfect. Uh oh! The Word of God tells us that if we are not perfect, we are sinful. If we are sinful we cannot be allowed entrance into Heaven. What do we do?
Well, some of you may have already done what is necessary to be freed from that situation. But for those who have not, let me give you God’s Plan as told to us by John the Baptizer. In a word, John’s word from God, “Repent!” What does that word mean? Well, first off, it means more than just saying “I’m sorry.” There are, in fact, three “R’s” to repentance.
First: Recognizing your sin. Where have you been less than perfect in your life? Think about your actions. Think about your relationships with people and with God. Think about your words. Even think about your thoughts. That is what the people whom John encountered did: “the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him, confessing their sins…” Recognize your sins and confess them to Jesus Christ.
Second: Receiving forgiveness from God. Because of the work done by Jesus Christ on the cross, your sins are gone – all of them, past, present and future – if you will receive the gift of Christ as your Savior and profess Him to be so. God holds no grudges. God keeps no record of wrongs. God forgives you completely when you come to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.
The third “R” is the hardest to accomplish. It is the “R” most often left out of the equation, left out of the sermon, because it is not a popular concept. Yet, it is perhaps the most important of the “R’s” because it is, in essence, the “proof of the pudding” so to speak. The third and final “R” is: Reforming your life. This means that after you have been forgiven for your sins, you turn away from them and you turn toward God. You give up your old, earthly ways and you take on God’s ways.
How do we find the courage to confess all of our sins to God? Where can I get the strength to reform my life? John the Baptizer tells us, “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.” That was the job of a slave back then and John says he was not even worthy enough to do that. Someone has come, and is coming, who is greater than John the Baptizer, greater than me and greater than you.
So let your preparations for Christmas this year be much, much more than just the advertising and empty clichés. Loving, sharing, giving and family are all good things, indeed, not just for Christmas, but for all year round.
These things cannot be fully enjoyed, or even carried out completely, until you first understand that Christmas is a time for repentance; a time for Jesus Christ. It is a time to rejoice in the fact that Someone has come, Someone greater than John the Baptizer, Someone greater than me, Someone greater than you, Someone who is the reason for this celebration at this time of the year, God the Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen.