Albert D. Mosley - Sermon Untitled (December 10, 2000)
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Female Speaker | Herod was ruler of Galilee, | 0:03 |
and his brother Phillip, ruler of the region of Iturea, | 0:05 | |
and Trachentis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene. | 0:09 | |
During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. | 0:13 | |
The word of God came to John, | 0:17 | |
son of Zachariah, in the wilderness. | 0:19 | |
He went into all the region around the Jordan. | 0:22 | |
Proclaiming a baptism of repentance | 0:25 | |
for the forgiveness of sins. | 0:27 | |
As it is written in the book, | 0:29 | |
the words the prophet Isiah. | 0:31 | |
The voice of one crying out in the wilderness. | 0:34 | |
Prepare the way of the Lord, | 0:37 | |
make his path straight. | 0:39 | |
Every valley shall be filled, | 0:41 | |
and every mountain and hill shall be made low. | 0:42 | |
And the crooked shall be made straight, | 0:45 | |
and the rough ways made made smooth. | 0:48 | |
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. | 0:50 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 0:54 | |
[Congregation] Amen. | 0:57 | |
(silence) | 0:59 | |
Male Speaker | The voice of one, | 1:12 |
crying in the wilderness. | 1:13 | |
Prepare the way of the Lord. | 1:17 | |
Make his path straight. | 1:19 | |
Well, here we are, the | 1:25 | |
season of Advent is upon us. | 1:28 | |
Today, we're celebrating the second Sunday | 1:32 | |
of Advent. | 1:34 | |
For some people, however, the season of Advent, | 1:37 | |
or at least that time that leads up to Christmas | 1:40 | |
began several weeks ago. | 1:43 | |
The day after Thanksgiving. | 1:46 | |
On Friday, November 24th, which | 1:49 | |
by the way was my birthday, | 1:52 | |
but you didn't ask. | 1:53 | |
[Congregation Laughs] | 1:54 | |
On Friday November 24th, | 1:56 | |
hoards of eager consumers | 1:58 | |
descended upon the shopping malls, | 2:00 | |
hoping to find the perfect gift | 2:02 | |
for everyone on their list. | 2:05 | |
Huge sums of cash, and credit | 2:08 | |
changed hands. | 2:11 | |
Stress levels went through the roof, | 2:13 | |
as cars prowled the parking lot | 2:15 | |
trying to land a choice spot. | 2:18 | |
But isn't it fun, though? | 2:21 | |
Isn't it wonderful, | 2:23 | |
out of nowhere, it seems that radio stations | 2:25 | |
began playing Christmas tunes. | 2:28 | |
Cards from long lost friends, and relatives | 2:30 | |
began pouring in. | 2:33 | |
And lights, lights, lights everywhere. | 2:35 | |
This is how Advent, or that time of preparation | 2:41 | |
began for so many people in our society. | 2:44 | |
It did not start last Sunday, | 2:48 | |
with the first Sunday of Advent. | 2:50 | |
It started several Fridays ago | 2:52 | |
with the 50% off sale at Penny's. | 2:54 | |
However, and whenever it started for you | 2:59 | |
Advent is a season filled with great tension | 3:02 | |
and with a fairly high degree of anxiety. | 3:06 | |
Of course you would never surmise this to be the case. | 3:10 | |
In light of the treatment of this season | 3:14 | |
in the American commercial realm. | 3:16 | |
Advent is primarily concerned with eschatology | 3:19 | |
with the end times | 3:23 | |
with the consummation of all things in Christ. | 3:26 | |
Hence the song 'Tis the season to be jolly. | 3:29 | |
In Advent, we as Christians attempt | 3:34 | |
to express our hope and expectations. | 3:36 | |
For both the first and second comings of | 3:39 | |
Christ, the Messiah. | 3:41 | |
There's an obvious paradox here. | 3:44 | |
Advent is considered the beginning | 3:47 | |
of the Christian year. | 3:49 | |
Yet it plunges us immediately | 3:51 | |
into the tension between the already Christ | 3:54 | |
who has come in the flesh, | 3:56 | |
and the not yet consummation of all things in Christ | 3:58 | |
at the end of time . | 4:01 | |
So the Christian liturgical year has it's beginning | 4:04 | |
on focusing on the end. | 4:07 | |
Prayers, songs, | 4:10 | |
lectionary readings. | 4:13 | |
They all challenge us to begin our year | 4:14 | |
by thinking about the end of time. | 4:17 | |
This beginning of the end mode of Advent | 4:22 | |
contains both thankfulness, | 4:24 | |
and anticipation. | 4:26 | |
It contains both threat and promise. | 4:29 | |
Our thankfulness is due to the fact that | 4:34 | |
Christ has already come once. | 4:35 | |
And we can be grateful for the incarnation | 4:38 | |
and all that the incarnation accomplishes. | 4:40 | |
Because he has already come once | 4:43 | |
he will come again. | 4:45 | |
And thus, we anticipate, and look forward to full | 4:47 | |
and final coming, when he will complete the work | 4:50 | |
of redemption. | 4:53 | |
So we're able to approach this season | 4:56 | |
with thanksgiving in our hearts | 4:57 | |
for the gift of Christ to us in past times. | 4:59 | |
And with the full anticipation | 5:03 | |
of his second coming. | 5:05 | |
The threat and promise elements of this season | 5:08 | |
are contained in the belief that the second | 5:10 | |
coming of Christ | 5:12 | |
will be a time of judgment, and salvation. | 5:13 | |
Christ comes to judge, and Christ comes to save. | 5:17 | |
For some this is a threat | 5:22 | |
for other it is a promise. | 5:25 | |
The gospel of Matthew portrays | 5:28 | |
each of these elements the threat and the promise. | 5:29 | |
As the writer there records he will clear | 5:32 | |
his threshing floor and will gather his wheat | 5:34 | |
into the granary. | 5:37 | |
But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. | 5:39 | |
Advent is about being ready. | 5:45 | |
Being prepared. | 5:48 | |
As a child growing up in the rural Mississippi Delta | 5:51 | |
I would spend most of my long hot summer days | 5:54 | |
playing games outside. | 5:58 | |
One of my favorite games was hide-and-seek. | 6:01 | |
A designated counter would count to a certain number | 6:05 | |
while the remainder of us desperately | 6:07 | |
sought out good hiding places. | 6:10 | |
When the counting was over, | 6:12 | |
the counter would yell ready or not | 6:14 | |
here I come. | 6:17 | |
Almost invariably I would | 6:19 | |
respond to this alert by shouting | 6:21 | |
I'm not ready yet. | 6:23 | |
Even though I was the smallest child in my group | 6:27 | |
the larger children always | 6:31 | |
found all the good hiding places. | 6:33 | |
Whenever I would stumble upon a good hiding place some | 6:36 | |
200 pound kid would come along and | 6:39 | |
intimidate me to the point that I would give it to him. | 6:41 | |
In so many ways, this is the very essence of Advent. | 6:47 | |
Whether or not we're ready | 6:51 | |
the return of Christ is eminent. | 6:54 | |
His return is a certainty. | 6:57 | |
He promises us in his word, | 6:59 | |
that all flesh shall see the salvation | 7:01 | |
of our God. | 7:03 | |
Therefore it behooves us to be ready | 7:07 | |
at all times. | 7:09 | |
The Gospels Matthew again reminds us | 7:11 | |
to watch therefore, for you know not | 7:13 | |
what day the Lord is coming. | 7:16 | |
If the owner of the house had known at what time | 7:18 | |
of night the thief was coming, | 7:21 | |
he would have kept watch. | 7:23 | |
Would not have let his house be broken into. | 7:25 | |
So you must also be ready. | 7:28 | |
Because the son of men will come at an hour | 7:30 | |
when you least expect Him. | 7:31 | |
Preparation is something we are all familiar | 7:35 | |
and acquainted with. | 7:37 | |
From early on in life | 7:40 | |
most of us were taught to plan ahead. | 7:41 | |
To be on time. | 7:43 | |
To prepare well in advance. | 7:45 | |
The early bird presumably having prepared, | 7:48 | |
is the one who gets the worm, we say. | 7:51 | |
The majority of us start preparing | 7:55 | |
and saving for our golden years | 7:56 | |
in the prime of our lives. | 7:59 | |
And who among us | 8:03 | |
would dare walk into a board meeting, | 8:04 | |
or a job interview | 8:06 | |
without having prepared? | 8:08 | |
Only few brave students would sit through an exam | 8:10 | |
without having spent countless hours | 8:13 | |
preparing for the experience. | 8:16 | |
Preparation is especially important for us preachers. | 8:19 | |
The only thing I can think of more insulting | 8:23 | |
to a congregation, than an unprepared sermon, | 8:25 | |
is a preacher who thinks the congregation | 8:28 | |
doesn't realize he's not prepared. | 8:30 | |
A mentor of mine once said to me that | 8:34 | |
good preaching takes a lot of preparation. | 8:37 | |
For every one minute of a sermon delivered, | 8:41 | |
there should be at least an hour used in preparation. | 8:44 | |
We spend quite a bit of our lives preparing | 8:49 | |
for one thing or another. | 8:51 | |
Often times we expend more energy | 8:55 | |
preparing for an event | 8:57 | |
than we do in the actual event itself. | 8:58 | |
Think for example, of weddings. | 9:02 | |
The hours spent selecting the right dress. | 9:05 | |
The hours spent addressing envelopes for invitations. | 9:08 | |
The hours spent chasing down the caterer. | 9:13 | |
And doing all sorts of other things | 9:15 | |
in preparation for this event. | 9:17 | |
Hours and hours of time, and for what? | 9:20 | |
In most circumstances the wedding ceremony is over | 9:24 | |
in 30 minutes to an hour. | 9:27 | |
But it really takes that sort of preparation, | 9:30 | |
it takes detailed planning and thinking ahead | 9:33 | |
for most major events in our lives. | 9:36 | |
During the time of the Babylonian empire | 9:41 | |
engineer soldiers, called Zephyrs would precede | 9:43 | |
the Monarch as he traveled in his chariot | 9:46 | |
to visit various regions of his Kingdom. | 9:49 | |
These soldiers would construct the road | 9:52 | |
that the King had to travel on. | 9:55 | |
They filled pot holes, moved things out of the way | 9:57 | |
and made certain that the Kings journey | 10:00 | |
would be a smooth one. | 10:02 | |
Subjects of the King received a fairly good notice | 10:05 | |
well in advance that he was on his way. | 10:07 | |
Therefore they would take advantage of this time | 10:11 | |
and clean themselves up. | 10:14 | |
They would don their best outfits | 10:16 | |
and prepare delectable meals, just in case | 10:18 | |
the King decided to stop at one of their houses. | 10:20 | |
These engineer soldiers prepared the way for the coming | 10:25 | |
of the Babylonian King. | 10:28 | |
In a like manner, John the Baptist | 10:31 | |
prepares the way for the coming of our King. | 10:35 | |
Interestingly enough, John's message of preparation | 10:39 | |
is directed at a specific group of people. | 10:42 | |
And even more interesting than that | 10:46 | |
is that this group of people | 10:47 | |
it's not just any ordinary crowd. | 10:49 | |
John was not speaking to just the common folk of Jerusalem. | 10:53 | |
Who'd come out the the river Jordan | 10:56 | |
to be baptized by him. | 10:58 | |
John's message of preparation was not | 11:00 | |
directed at the stragglers, | 11:02 | |
and rift raft of Judea. | 11:04 | |
The ne'er do wells, and crime bosses | 11:07 | |
of the Ancient near East. | 11:09 | |
Instead, John here in this passage, | 11:11 | |
spoke to Pharisees and Sadducees. | 11:13 | |
The most pious of the pious. | 11:16 | |
The all stars of Jewish religion. | 11:19 | |
The ones, no doubt, voted by their peers | 11:22 | |
as least likely to be named a brood of vipers. | 11:25 | |
You brood of vipers, says John the Baptist. | 11:31 | |
What an interesting choice of words. | 11:34 | |
Interesting because Jesus uses the same phrase | 11:38 | |
later in chapters 12 and 13 of Matthew's Gospel | 11:41 | |
to condemn, strangely enough, the same folks | 11:45 | |
John condemned. | 11:49 | |
The Pharisees and Sadducees. | 11:50 | |
In both instances this Pharisees habit of | 11:54 | |
cultivating the outward appearance | 11:56 | |
of righteousness, while remaining inwardly | 11:58 | |
corrupt, that angers Jesus. | 12:01 | |
Jesus says to them you are like white washed tombs | 12:04 | |
which on the outside look beautiful, | 12:07 | |
but inside they are full of the bones | 12:10 | |
of the dead and all kinds of filth. | 12:12 | |
The appearance of preparation, is not the same | 12:16 | |
as being really prepared. | 12:19 | |
Last Christmas, Olivia and I requested | 12:23 | |
that our church family not give us gifts. | 12:26 | |
Lets just say this request was based upon our | 12:30 | |
past experiences of gifts | 12:33 | |
from various churches we've served. | 12:35 | |
Sort of a nice way of saying | 12:38 | |
in case you can't use it, we can't either. | 12:39 | |
[Congregation Laughs] | 12:42 | |
well, like laypeople often do, | 12:48 | |
they did not listen and instead | 12:51 | |
showered us with beautifully wrapped gifts. | 12:53 | |
As I loaded the gifts in the car one Sunday | 12:57 | |
after church, I turned to Olivia, | 12:59 | |
and I said you know, | 13:00 | |
maybe it's going to be different this year. | 13:02 | |
Maybe somebody will give us something | 13:04 | |
we can actually use. | 13:06 | |
I thought surely, out of all these beautifully | 13:09 | |
wrapped boxes, there was bound to be some really, | 13:11 | |
some really, really nice stuff on the inside. | 13:15 | |
Christmas morning rolled around, | 13:20 | |
and we began the process of opening our gifts | 13:21 | |
from the church members, the first of which | 13:23 | |
was a set of place mats. | 13:25 | |
With Richard Nixon's face on them. | 13:27 | |
[Congregation Laughs] | 13:29 | |
Being the sort of optimistic guy, | 13:34 | |
the one who always things the glass is half full, | 13:36 | |
I said this is only one out of 15. | 13:39 | |
You're bound to have at least one bad one. | 13:43 | |
I opened a second gift, to find a clip on tie. | 13:47 | |
And now the half full glass is beginning to | 13:52 | |
look half empty. | 13:54 | |
The third, and final, of the 15 gifts we opened, | 13:57 | |
was a Central High class of 1979 coffee mug. | 14:01 | |
So much for the beautiful wrapping, | 14:08 | |
and looking good on the outside. | 14:10 | |
Which is essentially the same thing that John | 14:13 | |
and Jesus said. | 14:16 | |
True preparation goes beyond the surface. | 14:18 | |
It occurs in the deepest recesses of our souls. | 14:22 | |
The flayed poets of yesteryears | 14:28 | |
spoke of getting one's health in order | 14:29 | |
in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. | 14:31 | |
They spoke of keeping the lamps trimmed and burning, | 14:35 | |
for the time is drawing neigh. | 14:38 | |
John's message of preparation is a message | 14:41 | |
of repentance. | 14:43 | |
Calling the people of Jerusalem and all Judea, | 14:44 | |
as well as you and I | 14:47 | |
to get our houses in order. | 14:49 | |
To prepare of the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. | 14:53 | |
With a changing of our ways, | 14:57 | |
and a confession of our sins. | 15:00 | |
Preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven | 15:02 | |
requires radical change. | 15:04 | |
Metanoia, the Greek word for preparation, | 15:07 | |
the Greek word for repentance | 15:12 | |
implies a complete turning around. | 15:13 | |
A 100 degree turn to face the other direction. | 15:17 | |
Some during John's time responded to this call, | 15:21 | |
and they changed their ways. | 15:23 | |
They humbly acknowledged their sins, | 15:26 | |
and received the baptism of repentance. | 15:27 | |
But then came along the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. | 15:30 | |
They had no intentions of rearranging their lives. | 15:34 | |
Their primary concern was not preparing | 15:37 | |
for the coming of the Messiah. | 15:39 | |
For the Pharisees and Sadducees | 15:42 | |
the baptism that John offers | 15:43 | |
was nothing more than another notch | 15:45 | |
on their belts of holiness. | 15:47 | |
John's message of repentance offers one more | 15:50 | |
opportunity to reaffirm their status quo, | 15:52 | |
as a blessed and obviously righteous | 15:56 | |
children of Abraham. | 15:58 | |
On the outside, they looked prepared. | 16:00 | |
But on the inside, | 16:03 | |
their hearts remained exactly the same. | 16:04 | |
John clearly indicates that there's only one way | 16:09 | |
to prepare for the coming Messiah. | 16:12 | |
Repent. For the Kingdom of Heaven has come near. | 16:14 | |
Repent. | 16:18 | |
It's a bucket of water, | 16:21 | |
right smack in your face. | 16:23 | |
Change your ways. | 16:25 | |
Something big is about to happen. | 16:27 | |
Something is headed this way, | 16:31 | |
and we may not be ready for it. | 16:33 | |
Repent. It's a wake up call to the complacent, | 16:36 | |
to the comfortable, to the content. | 16:40 | |
Repent. | 16:44 | |
Everything is about to change. | 16:46 | |
The status quo will be done away with. | 16:48 | |
The proud and mighty | 16:50 | |
will be scattered, and the lowly will be exalted. | 16:52 | |
Proper preparation for the One to come, | 16:57 | |
is John's message. | 17:00 | |
But as long as we think about John | 17:02 | |
preaching in his own country, 2000 years ago. | 17:03 | |
His message remains distant to us. | 17:07 | |
We have to realize that John is preaching | 17:11 | |
in the wilderness of our lives. | 17:12 | |
He comes to the wilderness in which we live. | 17:15 | |
Admonishing us to prepare for | 17:17 | |
the coming of the Messiah. | 17:19 | |
Warning us to get ready. | 17:21 | |
Warning us to change our ways. | 17:24 | |
Warning us to get our lives in order. | 17:27 | |
And reminding us of the consequences | 17:30 | |
if we don't. | 17:33 | |
If Advent is the time for us to anticipate, | 17:36 | |
and to prepare for Jesus, | 17:39 | |
then what are you doing this December | 17:42 | |
to get ready for His arrival? | 17:44 | |
Too often we confine our experience | 17:47 | |
of Advent to lighting the wreath on Sunday morning | 17:49 | |
and thumbing through the church's holiday | 17:51 | |
devotional guide. | 17:53 | |
We limit our attention this season | 17:56 | |
to pretty decorations. | 17:58 | |
Ginger cookies, soft music, and warm wishes | 18:00 | |
of good tidings. | 18:04 | |
On the outside, we look prepared. | 18:06 | |
But on the inside, our hearts remain | 18:09 | |
exactly the same. | 18:11 | |
Once the wrapping paper has been torn away, | 18:14 | |
and the ornaments put in storage for another year | 18:17 | |
will we pick right back up in January | 18:21 | |
where we left off in November? | 18:24 | |
Or will we really start this new Christian year | 18:26 | |
with a new beginning? | 18:30 |
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