Preparation: Malachi 3: 1-4; Luke 3: 1-6
When I was a junior in high school, I went to summer camp with the youth group all of my friends went to. I was not particularly fond of this youth group or its leader, but all of my friends from school went there, and I had to keep up with appearances you know. We were playing a game as part of the evening Bible Study lesson where we had to gently toss water balloons to each other without breaking them. I have no idea what Gospel lesson this could possibly illustrate, and I have yet to find a Gospel lesson where I feel the need to bring in water balloons. However, there I was dreading the inevitable. And sure enough, while caught off guard, a water balloon hit me square in the face, failed to burst, and knocked me completely on the ground. All I could yell was, “I wasn’t ready!!”
Preparation is important in life. Isaiah prophesied of John the Baptist who would come and preach to the people, “Prepare the way for the Lord!” Or, if you grew up King James Bible, you heard, “Prepare, ye, the way of the Lord!” in ye olden English. How, then, do we prepare ourselves for this coming Prince of Peace, Emmanuel? First, preparation means clearing the clutter. Second, preparation means hearts and minds ready to embrace Christ’s way of righteousness. Prepare ye, then, for God’s coming and for the next couple of points on getting ready for God to do something good.
Preparation means clearing out the old clutter in our hearts, minds, and lives. John the Baptist preached this word of preparation, but he also told the people to repent of their sins and turn to God. Malachi also talks about the coming day of the Lord but adds that God will be as fire which refines metal, like soap which bleaches clothes, If you go to the assigned Epistle lesson for today, you get Philippians 1:6, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns”
None of these things can happen: the refining, the bleaching, the turning, the finishing the good work can happen unless there is space to do it. That means delving into our hearts and minds to clear back the clutter. I like the analogy of when we refurbished the Sanctuary here six years ago. The contractor said, “We’ve gotta take everything out, first.” We all looked around at this full sanctuary and the chair of that committee started to slowly nod with wide eyes and said, “Okay…” You may be a bit concerned when you hear “clear the clutter,” though, because it’s not really possible to just forget everything.
That’s true. We live, each one, with a past filled with things good and bad. Some of us live with old memories of happier days which haunt us. Some of us live with that ghastly presence of grief that eases up but never fully goes away. Some of us live with trauma or bad habits. And some of us live with great memories we fear forgetting as we age. Repentance, clearing the clutter, these things don’t mean that we wipe our whole minds clean of everything. That’s impossible as human beings. But we must carefully analyze what’s in our lives and minds and see if it is serving us well.
Maybe that’s a broader definition of repent. We think of repentance as God taking us by the ear and dragging us back from what we’ve done wrong…a punishment, or even a humiliation. But it’s not fully that. I actually think that definition is a bit of a cheat because being chastised for doing wrong doesn’t require any real or meaningful work. John preached repentance and added examples like clearing the road, filling in the valley, leveling mountains and hills, straightening curves, smoothing over the rough places. That’s a lot more that a grand spiritual humiliation for sin. Clear the clutter by going into your life and analyzing what is making your life here on earth and your life with God better and stronger. Not everything in your waking life has to be sacrificed, but if the road is blocked, clear it. If there’s a valley (think of the shadow of death), fill it in. If there’s an insurmountable mountain, level it. If you have hard curves and rough places, even them out and smooth them over in ways that make your life prepared for God, who began a good work, to complete it in and through your life.
Preparation means hearts and minds ready to embrace Christ’s way of righteousness. God gives us the tools for this preparation, repentance, and clutter-clearing in the example of Christ. There are times we need therapeutic help to get beyond trauma in life, and Jesus counseled people one on one, if you recall he woman at the well. There are old wounds which need to be brought up and finally forgiven in our lives, as Jesus preached seven times seventy times we forgive. There are places where we are hardened and bitter that need the tender touch of trust and vulnerability. There are places where we are judgmental though we have a plank in our own eye and agonize over the speck in our neighbor’s eye. And sometimes, as the Old Testament indicates, we need Jesus to come in and just burn it to the ground like the refiner’s fire Malachi talks about.
John the Baptist even gives us the reason for this repentance and decluttering in verse 6 of the Gospel, “And then all people will see the salvation sent from God.” We talk about God’s grace in the church, and we often say that we receive the “free gift of God’s grace.” But I believe that if our hearts and minds are filled with clutter and mess, that God’s grace is not a free gift. Instead, it is a heavy burden, and we don’t know what to do with it. But, but, but, you might say, you can’t deny God’s grace, it sounds like you’re treading awful close to that. The truth is, though, that there’s still that responsibility for us. John said to repent of sin, turn to God, and find forgiveness. It doesn’t say God will repent for us and make it alright. We are told to do the work of clearing the clutter, of repenting in our lives.
In Philippians 1:11, Paul prays a beautiful wish for the church in Philippi, “May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.” To have this full life, repent by clearing the clutter and the mess and be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the overwhelming peace and goodness found in God’s grace unto us.
God will come to us in some way or another, and I pray that we are prepared. This grace and presence may come as a still, small voice, or it may come as hurtling water balloon straight at our face leaving us with a black eye shouting, “I wasn’t ready!” But the truth is, you are ready. The tools of decluttering, repentance, and new life have been given to us. Each year we celebrate over and over this idea of a wondrous Savior born to give us a way to God’s grace and peace in life. The holidays may be hard, for there may be a lot weighing down on our hearts and minds, and plenty of dread for the holiday itself. But, if we clear just a small path, we may still find just how beautiful the miracle of Christ the Savior, born for us to bring us peace, born to bring us love beyond anything we can possibly know, still truly is.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1491407377905996