PREPARATIONS
We are entering a time of the year when the normal hustle and bustle of everyday life is ramped up, or kicked up another notch on the “Rat Race Scale”. People who were already stressed for time suddenly must find more time to do things that they don’t normally do.
It’s the Holiday Season and for most of us it is anything but a holiday. Lest I be accused of being a “Grinch”, let me also say that, even with its extra demands on my time, I still love this season of the year. It is a time when people seem to be a little more cordial and a little friendlier. I have noticed that if you say hello, at least you will get a grunt in return rather than the usual deaf ear. And, you will really get them to speak to you if you get in their way or pick up something that they wanted first.
Everywhere you turn people are making preparations for the time that is surely coming. There is an air of expectancy and for many, it almost seems that their life has taken on a new purpose for a while. They will lay aside a lot of the things that seemed so important just a few weeks ago because now their whole focus is shifted to prepare for the coming of a little, short, red-faced elf that rides around in a red sleigh pulled by 8 tiny reindeer, or 9, depending on which version of the story you want to adhere to.
Christmas is upon us and there are only 18 days left to get out there and fight the traffic, spend your money and get those special gifts for special people so hurry up, so you can wait in lines for hours to get that new Barbie for the little girl in your life, or that X Box Game Console for the teenagers, or whatever it is that is in your list this year.
You will need to check your list, and then check it twice – you have to make sure that no one is left out, no matter if they have been naughty or nice. After all, if you don’t get something for everyone, their feelings might be hurt and then they won’t give you anything next year.
But Wait! That’s not even the tip of the iceberg!
For not only do you have to rearrange your schedule to spend endless hours at the mall or fighting the traffic, but you have to find time to check out the lights that adorn so many homes in our area.
Then you have to sit down long to plan your Christmas dinner and make sure that you have enough food to feed the multitudes. God forbid that anyone would want their 40th cookie or piece of fudge, and find the tray empty. Oh Horror of horrors – uncle Jimmy wanted a 6th piece of lemon pie and it was all gone. I should have bought 13 instead of 12. I just knew that 12 pies was not going to be enough.
Next year that won’t happen. I’ll buy enough for a hundred people and make sure that no one goes hungry. We can always loose that extra 20 pounds that we will gain just by making a New Year’s Resolution to go on an extreme diet that will last about 2 days.
Then there are the preparations for the exchanging of the gifts with the family. Oh what a time that will be. Let’s go buy a few extra gifts to make sure that everyone gets something, after all we might have Jody’s boyfriend, or Luke’s girlfriend and we wouldn’t want them to feel left out. We might have to add a room onto the house to hold the toys our children get - toys that won’t last through Christmas Day and, even if they do, the kids will lose interest in them and go back to playing with sticks and cardboard boxes in less than a week.
Preparations, preparations, preparations – we have to make our preparations – nothing can be left to chance – nothing can be overlooked – no one can be left out – the rest of our year will be ruined if Christmas isn’t absolutely perfect.
My family won’t love me if everything isn’t perfect. My kids will hate me if they don’t have that new hummer under the tree. My wife or my husband will doubt my love if there isn’t a diamond ring, or a new hunting rifle there for them.
What are you waiting for? Why are you still sitting here in this service this morning? Don’t you know there’s only 18 days left to get all this done and more? Don’t you love your family enough? I know that not all of you are prepared!
Now I realize that most of you don’t act like what I have just described. You don’t really go to these extremes in your preparations for Christmas. But I also know that every one of us can relate to what I have said and that there is a measure of truth that we all identify with.
Preparations are necessary if we are to have a successful Holiday Season. We make those preparations because we love our families and we want to do everything we can to make this a special time for them. We want to show them our love by our actions and there is nothing wrong with that.
But this morning I want to remind you not to forget to make some preparations for an even greater time that is coming.
Isaiah 40:3-5, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."
Hundreds of years before Jesus would be born in that manger in Bethlehem, God had prepared one of his prophets named Isaiah to bring forth this word foretelling the coming of His Son.
In fact, in eternity past, God had already made his plans and prepared a way that man could be redeemed from sin. In Genesis 1:2, God spoke Light into a dark and void emptiness and began the creation that we all enjoy today. In bringing forth light, we can already see a picture of the coming Light of the World, Jesus Christ.
Then in Genesis 3:15 we read where God speaks directly to Satan, and reveals his ultimate plan for the coming of Christ when he said, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
Our God is a God of order and preparation. He leaves nothing to chance and that’s why his plans never fail.
And so we read in Matthew 3:1-3, "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."
There were preparations that our Father in Heaven decreed should be completed before his Son, the Light, would be presented unto a dark, and dying world and so we find that John the Baptist, a man filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb, was sent to make those preparations.
What was John’s message? What was it that was necessary for men to do that they might be ready to receive Jesus?
John’s entire message can be found in one word – REPENT!
The coming of the Son of God and the revelation of gospel to this world had to be preceded by a time of preparation.
Israel had fallen from its place of prominence in the world through its idolatry. The prophets had been silent for about 400 years. There was no vision in the land. There was no hope and the light of God in Israel had all but gone out.
So John came preaching repentance. He came to tell Israel where they were in relationship to God. They were a lost and dying people. They were a people who were the “apple of God’s eye” and yet they knew not God at all. They had a form of worship, a form of rituals, but all their laws and rituals of worship only served to condemn them more. They were spiritually blind, morally corrupt and physically destitute. They were caught in Satan’s trap of sin and there was no way out.
Israel needed to turn away from their form of worship, their religious traditions and turn their hearts toward God. John came to lift their vision off of the shadows of the tabernacle or temple worship, to lift their hearts out of the miry clay that held them in such deep despair, and to lift their thoughts higher than they had been as they looked upon their nation as a slave to Rome. John preached so that Israel could see that there was hope – their Deliverer was coming! One who was much greater than John, whose shoes John would not be worthy to unlatch.
But what did it take for Israel to be prepared for Jesus coming? It took true repentance. They needed to turn away from their sins of idolatry. They needed to turn away from their sins of doubt and fear. And not only did they need to turn away from their sin, they had to make a conscious choice to turn toward God, to lift up their eyes to behold His Son, and then choose to accept Jesus as the only begotten Son of God. Their Messiah was coming, but they so blind in their sin and self-righteousness that they could not see him.
In like fashion, we see the Word of God going forth today in our own dark and dying world.
Jesus is coming again but before he comes there is a time of preparation. Before he can come into this world, sin must be judged. Before he can enter your heart, your sin must be judged. The righteous, holy Son of God cannot enter into the heart of a sinner until the Blood of the Lamb removes that sin.
That heart must be prepared. We must break up that fallow ground of a life and heart that is hardened with sin. We must allow the Word of God to plow deep into our heart, deep into our lives and break those chains that bind us. We must prepare ourselves for His coming.
It is a sad thing when we realize that most people will spend more time preparing for the coming of Santa Claus than for the coming of Jesus Christ.
We will spend more time cooking pies than we spend in reading God’s Word.
We will spend hours upon hours in the stores but we don’t have time to be in God’s House when it comes time for worship.
We will spend hours hanging out lights, wrapping gifts and doing a hundred other things, but how much time will we have for talking to God in prayer.
Folks we need to realize that Jesus came the first time as the Savior of the World but the next time he comes it will be as the King of Kings, Lord of Lords and the Righteous Judge of all the earth.
We need to remember that it’s vastly more important to make preparations for the coming of the Lord than for the coming of Christmas. Instead of being overly concerned with making this Holiday Season a joyous time of the year for our families, we should double our efforts to reach them with the message of repentance.
Jesus may come before we have the opportunity to celebrate Christmas this year and where will that leave us then? Are we making preparations for Christmas and forgetting to make preparations for the coming of the Lord? Are we focused solely upon the enjoyment of the holidays and forgetting about the pain and suffering that is coming upon the earth. Are we more concerned about the comfort and fulfilling of the needs of the flesh and unconcerned about the condition of the hearts of our loved ones.
Let us not forget the real reason for Christmas. Amid all of the hustle and bustle of the malls, the glitz and glamour of the decorations, and the excitement of parades and family gatherings, let us never forget that Jesus is standing there, with tears in his eyes, with his hands outstretched, begging and pleading for people to turn away from their sin in repentance and to turn to Him as their Savior.
Our community’s annual Christmas Parade is this afternoon and the streets will be lined with people of all ages who will be screaming, “Throw me something mister”. Every parade we see has taken on the identity of a Mardi Gras Parade even though the “floats” and exhibits might try to depict Christmas scenes.
If you go stand on the streets and partake in the festivities, don’t forget that Jesus is standing there too. He isn’t looking at the candy, the nice decorations or listening to the music of the bands that march by. He is looking into the heart of everyone who is there. He looks to see which hearts are being prepared and to see if his people are making preparations for his coming.
The greatest gift that any of us can give to anyone is to tell him or her about Jesus’ love. Tell them that he is no longer a baby in a manger but that he is the risen Son of God and the Savior of the World.
The greatest gift that anyone can receive is the gift of Salvation and eternal life in Christ.
But before they can receive, we must make preparations. We must tell them of God’s love, mercy and grace. We must preach repentance unto them. We must not fail in our duty as Christians to spread the message of the gospel because the souls of our families and our friends are hanging in the balance.
Are you making preparations for Christmas in your home? I’m sure that most of us are and there’s nothing wrong with that at all.
But while you are making preparations for Christmas, don’t forget to make preparations for the Coming of the Lord. Those that aren’t prepared won’t be watching and waiting, and won’t be found faithful, and will be left behind. Get prepared and stay prepared. Jesus is coming soon!
Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording, including sermon titles, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these sermons. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and/or quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
