Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2004 : December 12, 2004
Prepare Your Hearts for Christ's Coming -- Expect To See Jesus!
Advent 3
Expectations can often fall short of reality. Steve Comisar was a legendary con artist, and he preyed on people's expectations. For his first scam, when he was still quite young, Steve Comisar placed an ad in a national magazine claiming that he had an amazing machine, a SOLAR POWERED CLOTHES DRYER for $49.95. "Scientifically proven, space age method," the ad declared, "using only the power of the sun." Plenty of people who ordered Comisar's product were plenty angry and plenty surprised to receive... (Can you guess?) ...a clothesline. Expectations fell short of reality.
When you look forward to Christmas this year and all the gifts you have coming that already might be accumulating under the tree, you probably have some expectations. Some will be fulfilled; some will fall far short. But as we prepare our hearts for Christ's coming, let's make sure we have the proper expectation for Christmas -- to see Jesus.
If we're going to see Jesus this Christmas, we have to get rid of all the false expectations we have of him. Last week we heard how John the Baptist proclaimed his message: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." Herod Antipas heard that message quite clearly. He needed to repent because he was married, and so was his brother -- but that didn't keep him from taking his own brother's wife and marrying her. It was adultery, plain and simple, and John accused Herod Antipas of that very thing. So Herod arrested him and threw him into prison. That's where we pick up our text.
"When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" Do you find that strange? Why would John, the very one who had announced to others that Jesus was the Christ, "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," now doubt it himself? Well, put yourself in John's shoes. You live a very difficult life -- in the desert, eating insects to survive, boldly proclaiming that God hates sin and will punish sin and the sinner "in unquenchable fire." With God's Word on your side, you tell King Herod, "You're playing with that unquenchable hellfire because you sinned against the holy God." So Herod throws you into prison -- and don't think you have cable TV provided by Judean taxpayers. The little food you're given, you have to eat quickly before the rats and insects get it first. Oh, and at any time, Herod could kill you.
Then you hear Jesus' message -- "Believe in me and all your sins will be forgiven." And it's meant for all people -- including Herod. Forgiveness even for Herod! -- that would be like us wanting to see Hitler or Stalin or Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden go free for the horrible things they did to people -- rape, murder, torture, genocide. John expected Jesus to proclaim judgment, not forgiveness and mercy, so he wondered whether Jesus was the Christ after all, and sent his own followers to ask him.
What was Jesus' answer? "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor." Isaiah had prophesied what the Christ would do, and Jesus was doing those things, revealing God's mercy to sinners. Yes, Jesus had also come preaching judgment, but his main work of judgment wouldn't come until the end of the world. He was there now to save sinners. Forgiveness even for Herod -- it was a message John wasn't expecting from Jesus.
What do we expect to see in Jesus? You kids, if someone is a bully at school and is mean to you all the time, what do you want to happen? You want them to get punished, right? But the teacher is never around to see it, so nothing ever happens. Teenagers, you're on a team or club where to fit in you're pressured to smoke pot or get drunk, or worse. And you resist. But then you're looked on as the outcast. What do you want to happen? You want them to get what's coming to them, right? But all too often they don't, and it only gets worse. Those of you punching a clock every day trying to make ends meet -- you get the same pay as a co-worker who doesn't want anything to do with Jesus. You may also be scrounging to send your kids to a Christian school and paying for it, while making payments on a rusted out '89 Pacer, while trying to give God a generous portion of our income in offerings, while trying to keep your house. But we often see our co-worker spend money on a huge house and a big boat and dinners out every other night. It's not what we expect when we're doing God's will. I know of a married couple who had three miscarriages, and they were wondering why so many people who aren't married have kids that they don't want, and then some get rid of them through abortion. We don't expect those things to happen to us when we're striving to do God's will.
But do we have the right expectations of what our Christian life will be like? God never promised that we wouldn't have any problems in life because we're Christians. Instead he says that "we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22) He said, "All people will hate you because of me." (Matthew 10:22) Do we have the right expectations when we see Jesus and the life he calls us to live? The only way we'll get rid of our false expectations of Jesus is when we put aside all of our ideas of how our life will be, and instead look at Jesus' life. Only when we take a good look at the real Jesus, will we be prepared this Christmas and at the end of time to see Jesus.
Ryan and James, ages 5 and 3, weren't ready to see the real Jesus. They were sitting at breakfast waiting for the pancakes their mother was making when they began to argue over who would get the first one. Their mother said, "If Jesus were eating with us, he'd say, 'Go ahead, brother, you eat the first one. I can wait.' " Both boys paused several moments to take in the import of their mother's words. Then Ryan turned to his brother and said, "You be Jesus."
Do we expect life to be easy for us as Christians -- with justice always being done, with the bad guys always losing and the good guys always winning? That's not reality. We see the reality of the Christian life when we look at the reality of Christ's life. It was a life of humility, of service, of pain. When we look at the real Jesus, we see a helpless infant at Christmastime, not one seated on a throne as he should be, but born in a barn and laid in smelly, musty straw next to cow manure. When we look at Jesus during his earthly ministry, we don't see Jesus the conquering hero, but Jesus the servant, washing the dirt and grime from his own disciples' feet, not having the luxury of having a mortgage because he didn't have a house to live in. And when he finally died, he didn't get a loving world wishing him well, but soldiers and even "religious people" who mocked him and openly ridiculed him. Oh yes, and to top it all off, there was the cross. Jesus died an outcast's death, a reject of society, and even rejected by his heavenly Father. Why? Why would Jesus want to be punished for sins he never committed? Why would Jesus want to be the loser? Why would he want to suffer through the agony of crucifixion and separation from God himself? Why? Because he didn't want us to suffer. Even though we should be punished for our complaining or giving in to peer pressure, or trying to keep up with the Joneses instead of using our wealth to spread the gospel, or questioning God's wisdom when our life seems to fall apart. Those are all times when we don't see Jesus for who he really is. Jesus died for all of those sins and paid for them all completely.
But now that Jesus rose from the dead, we know he wasn't a loser, but the greatest of winners. And we are as well through faith in him. Our sins are forgiven. We live for him. And if that means that we can't afford everything the Joneses have, or if it means we can't have the prestige of being in the cool crowd, or if it means that we live as a humble servant to others -- then so be it. It's worth it because of what Jesus did for us.
John still faced a hard life in prison, and eventual death at the hands of Herod. But Jesus wanted him to understand that his mission, his Christian life, was not a failure. It was a success, just as a suffering and dying Jesus was actually Jesus' greatest triumph. So as John's disciples were leaving, Jesus asked the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?" In other words, a man who really had no message to tell them but only told them what they wanted to hear, based on the latest public opinion poll, flipping one way, then flopping the other? If that was what they were expecting, they didn't get it. John told the people they were sinners, even if they didn't want to hear it. He would eventually lose his life because of it. Did they go to see "a man dressed in fine clothes?" Jesus answers his own question: "No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces." John didn't attract people by his flashy appearance or his eloquent preaching style, as we might be tempted to go hear some preacher who is entertaining but has no substance. John humbly preached the truth, got back to the basics, whether people accepted it or not.
Jesus continued: "Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10This is the one about whom it is written: 'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' " The people who went out to see John not only saw a prophet, but they saw the only prophet besides the Christ himself who was prophesied in Scripture. He was the very forerunner of Christ. But Jesus goes even further. He says "I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist." John was the greatest person to ever have lived before Jesus came. That wasn't because of who he was, but because of his role and his message that the Christ was now here. What an encouragement from Jesus to John who was now suffering for his faith and his fearless proclamation of it!
But as great as John was, Jesus says, "yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." What on earth does Jesus mean by saying that? Well, John was the greatest man ever to have lived besides Jesus because he was the forerunner of Christ. But during his earthly life John never even saw what Jesus had come to do. He never saw Jesus die on the cross and rise from the dead. But who has? We have. As great as John was, we are even greater because we have seen everything that God promised in the Old Testament come to fulfillment.
That's why Christmas is so great. We expect to see the baby grow up to be a man who gives his life to forgive us. That will change our attitude of how we then view our life. What do you expect to see this Advent and Christmas? The same old message told again and again that you've heard before thousands of times? Or have you come to hear once again the beautiful message that your sins are forgiven through the Christ who has now come. You will still have bullies in your life, peer pressure to ensnare you, unbelievers who live easier lives than you. But you should expect those things now as a follower of Christ. Because you have seen who the Christ is -- one who has come to forgive all your sins and give you eternal life. And you get to see him again this Christmas and one day when he comes again on the clouds of heaven. That will be one Christmas present that won't fall short of your expectation.
