Preparing the Way for the Lord

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​Rev. Dwayne M. Doyle
The First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
Sermon Title: Preparing the Way for the Lord
Texts: Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8; II Peter 3:8-15a
12/10/23 - Second Sunday of Advent
Sermon
Have you ever seen the movie Ground Hog Day starring Bill Murray from Saturday Night Live?  A man keeps reliving the same day repeatedly until he finally comes out of it. Every day we must in a sense live over routines that have been set in place. We get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch a movie, read the paper, watch the news, look at our email and go to bed, or whatever the pattern you have set takes place.  It is the same for the church and the church calendar.  We are in in the second Sunday of Advent. 
Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. Wikipedia
Dec. 3rd until Dec. 24th.
Today we heard a beautiful Christmas pageant. Last Friday I went to Haddonfield and experienced music at the First Presbyterian Church of Haddonfield from an ensemble.  I heard Christmas songs being sung on the street.  There are decorations in towns. Something special is coming.  In Haddon Heights, they had the Christmas Tree lighting.  Well, in many instances, it seems as if people are preparing for Santa Clause’s coming with the Macy Prade in NYC and Black Friday getting all of your sales for Christmas.  In fact, there is so much commercialism, we may tend to forget what the true meaning of Christmas is. 
“For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. “ John 3:16.
Jesus is the reason for the season as has been so prevalently quoted.  But is Jesus at the center of your lives every day, and not just at Christmas?  How do we avoid getting caught up in the monotony of the Christian calendar? Are we honestly looking forward to Christmas, or are we dreading the long lines at stores, the depleting of our bank account to buy gifts, and all of the preparations of getting a tree, decorating the house and putting up the lights and decorations? 
Are you an Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch, or someone who looks forward to celebrating the coming of Christ and all the other wonderful things that Christmas has to offer at this time of year?  Maybe you are a widow or single person and Christmas is a very difficult time for you.  You miss your loved ones and any holiday without them makes you become sad or depressed.  Songs like ‘I’ll have a Blue Blue Christmas without you’ resonate as your mantra for the Christmas season. 
Well, today we are going to change all of that.  We are going to get out of our Ground Hog Day and our slumps.  We are going to celebrate the fact that Jesus has not only come into the world as a baby boy some two thousand years ago, but that he will also be coming back in glory to take us home to be with him forever.  Now that is something worth celebrating!!!  Amen.  There is no need for commercialism here. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!  When we all see Jesus we will sing the victory. 
Lyrics

1. 1. Onward, Christian soldiers!

Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.
Christ, the royal Master,
Leads against the foe;
Forward into battle,
See his banners go!

1. [Chorus]

Onward, Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.

1. 2. At the sign of triumph

Satan’s host doth flee;
On, then, Christian soldiers,
On to victory.
Hell’s foundations quiver
At the shout of praise;
Brothers, lift your voices,
Loud your anthems raise.

1. 3. Like a mighty army

Moves the Church of God;
Brothers, we are treading
Where the Saints have trod.
We are not divided;
All one body we:
One in hope and doctrine,
One in charity.

1. 4. Onward, then, ye people;

Join our happy throng.
Blend with ours your voices
In the triumph song:
Glory, laud, and honor
Unto Christ, the King.
This through countless ages
Men and angels sing.
Rekindling your first love for the Lord
Why did you put your faith in Jesus in the first place?  Were you at a low in life and had nowhere else to go?   Were you fulfilling your confirmation and were standing before the Church so that you could join it?  Were you at a Billy Graham Crusade and felt let to go forward by the tugging of the Spirit?
And after you put your faith in Jesus, was there any change in your life?  Were you compelled to tell others of your conversion?  Were you repentant and wanting to ask forgiveness of people you had hurt along the way?  Were you feeling lighter for the release of burdens you had been carrying that you gave to Jesus like your sin, guilt, and shame for all of the things you had been doing wrong?
Now, the years have gone by and you have been faithfully coming to church and you may even be a member of the session, the deacon board, or some other responsible position in the church.  Perhaps you may even be the pastor, or the clerk of session, and your faith has grown cold and empty. You have really no reason to be excited about Christmas, or any other time of the year.  And talk about the second coming of Jesus, when is it going to happen, it seems like perhaps it may never happen, at least not in your lifetime. 
This was the state of the people who the Apostle Peter wrote to in II Peter 3:8-15a. 
Begin reading II Peter 3:1-7
This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory. I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.  Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.  The will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again?  From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out form the water and surrounded it with water. 
Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood and by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire.  They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
Vs. 8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.  9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think.  No, he is being patient for your sake.  He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
Vs. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
Vs. 11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward on the day of God and hurrying it along.  On that day he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. 13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
Vs. 14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.
Vs. 15a And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. 
Three Points from II Peter 3:8-10

• God’s time frame is not the same as our time frame vs. 8
• Don’t mistake God’s not returning yet as a bad thing, it is actually a good thing. Vs. 9
• The Day of the Lord will come when we are not expecting it. Vs. 10

Everything as we know it will be destroyed by fire, but what will come out of the fire as being more purified. Fire purifies. In the Old Testament the flood cleansed the world for sin.  John the Baptist baptized after people repented of their sins in preparation of Jesus’s proclamation of the good news.
John the Baptist said that he baptized with water (for repentance), but one was coming (Jesus), who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Mark 1:6
John prepared the way for Jesus’ first coming as the Christ child.  Today, we are preparing the world for Jesus’ second coming by our lifestyle, morals, and behavior.
How should all of this affect us?  We should be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. Vs. 14.
I Peter 1:3-7 and 13-16 talk about this change in lifestyle for the Christian as we wait in expectation for the second coming of the Lord.
 Vss. 3-7 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ form the dead.  Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
Vss. 13-16 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children.  Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better than.  But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
Christmas isn’t about the toys as the Grinch said in Dr. Seuss, ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’, but it is about Jesus Christ and his coming to save the world for sin.  Jesus is the reason for the season. Let’s keep him at the center of all our Christmas preparations through this advent season.  And when he returns whether spring, winter, summer or fall, we will be ready for his coming!  Hope you all have a blessed Christmas. 
Many things in life require patience and longsuffering.  Anything worth having is worth working for.  In the case of a marriage, we may be so in love in the beginning of the relationship, but after many years of marriage we may find ourselves not so in love.  We have to find ways to rekindle the relationship.  I am currently going through the book The Love Dare by the Kendrick brothers.  It is based on the movie ‘Fireproof’ where a man decides for the sake of his marriage, which is heading for divorce, to try and salvage it.  This book gives forty days of dares for a spouse to do for his other spouse.  In the same way, we must be reenergized about the faith that we had when we first came to Christ.  Coming to church, attending bible studies, being involved in men’s and women’s bible studies.  We should also be sharing our faith with others.  Many of us need a dose of the Holy Spirit to excite our faith.  Let’s not allow these days to be wasted, but let’s make the most of every opportunity before our Lord and Savior returns. And let’s not let him catch us off guard.
I would like to conclude my sermon by reading the ending of Isaiah 40:27-31 which talks about ‘waiting’ or ‘trusting’ that the Lord will be there for us when we need him.
“O Jacob, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles?  O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights? Have you never heard?  Have you never understood?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth.  He never grows weak or weary.  No one can measure the depths of his understanding.  He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.  Evern youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.  But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:27-31 New Living Translation  AMEN.