12.08.2013 Advent 2 - John - Leading the Way to Jesus - Repentance is about the Welcome Back

12.08.2013 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

12.08.2013 Advent from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

12.08.2013 Worship from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

Lord, thank You again, that we celebrate that You came to this earth as a man – born as a child – that you went to the cross to pay for our sins and now we have life in You – we look forward to a time when You return and we will all be together with You. As we look to the hope of Christmas – a hope of a savior and king who will come for us again. We look forward to spending eternity with You in the Eternal City where there is no sun or moon because You are the Light – all things will be clear, though things today are muddy and unclear. That city will have its gates – it will always be open and there will be the opportunity to enter Your presence. Today we can come before Your presence because of what You did for us – we don’t have to be afraid – You welcome us – thank You for that grace -
As we do advent – it speaks of hope and expectation – both songs zero in on what we are hoping for – what we are waiting for – and as we go through this series – the question to ask – What do you hope for when the holidays come? What do you expect?
Family time – none of our children live in this area. But it is what we look forward to – opportunity for family to get together – to have those relationships. When you have younger children, you create memories.
Sometimes you are longing for a specific present.
Sometimes the holidays are hard for people – especially those who have suffered a loss – maybe it is the first Christmas without this person – but it is an opportunity to minister – it can be a difficult time.
From those perspectives – there are a lot of things we hope for.
The first followers had certain expectations – they were hoping for salvation and redemption. A Savior and Redeemer. For 500 years, these people – imagine this – these people of faith who believed in Yahweh – and He had been silent for 500 years. They had regularly heard from God – Abraham and Sarah – God spoke to them. And we see that throughout their story – speaking and calling – so for about 500 years – that has not happened – even 700 years, this little nation had lived in turmoil for over 700 years – one army after another, spreading them out throughout the world –and yet they were still hoping for the same thing.
The promises that were given by God for salvation and redemption – to renew their hope, it was not happening, but they still waited with expectation.
John the Baptist – a prophet – a prophet of new beginnings – he sets this whole renewal, salvation/fulfillment of prophecy – preparing the way for a legitimate King of Israel – they had Herod, but he was not a true king.
Luke 1: 5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
Luke ties the Old and New covenant together. He takes what is about to be told – the story of Jesus – and through the parents of John the Baptist – he ties it back to the beginning – like Abraham and Sarah, advanced in age and barren. The promise that was given is still going even though it appeared to not.
You have followers of Yahweh who experience great disappointment. That is what you see in the story of God’s people. Faithful followers often experience great disappointment.
They were advanced in years – and didn’t have kids. In that society, it was everything to have children – but out of the disappointment and failure to receive their expectations – God’s promises are born and fulfilled. We see this with Abraham and Sarah, and the same thing happens with Zacharias and Elizabeth.
Expectation  Disappointment  Hope
I think they have to go in that order. When we have expectation – when God makes promises – we turn those promises – we create expectations that aren’t exactly what He meant. God had promised a Savior – and they were expecting a new king – a Messiah who would give them back their nation/power/prosperity – but Jesus didn’t do any of that – he specifically did not do that – but He did something greater – He didn’t give back their nation – He gave them a NEW nation – He didn’t give them political freedom, but He gave them spiritual freedom. We take our expectations and change what the promise is – like a vision from God and then the death of the vision. The fulfillment of God’s promises are not necessarily material. They might not be what we want – but they will have a significant spiritual/eternal fulfillment in us.
What disappointment should do is to get us to look to the next world. We need to do what is required – but our hope won’t fully be fulfilled in this world. Many struggle with Christmas because their expectations are so high – and we get this feeling of MAGIC – and then we demand MAGIC and are disappointed. But God is not MAGIC – he can DO magic, but He doesn’t care about it – He cares about things that matter and count – things that lead us to the eternal. These things happen as we learn to love others and to do His work and become His servants and serve other people – living for justice, peace, and the fruit of the Spirit.
But from the disappointments come hope – and we only get hope eternally – so what we have – with the parents of John – there is this tremendous disappointment about to be fulfilled.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
Angels must not be as gentle as the movies make them out to be – because every time one sees one, the first words out of the angel’s mouth is “Do not be afraid!”
13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.
We must persist through disappointment in relationship with God – and that is what they are doing – persisting – faithful in their relationship with God.
It will be a blessing to you – you will have joy – but your blessing will become a blessing to the world. God blesses us that we might bless others.
That joy has to be turned outward.
16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Now we have an understanding of how John will go about preparing this renewal – this new beginning. As we look at Christmas, we want things to be new – revived – some things improved in our lives. Circumstances – we’d like circumstances to change. Relationships. US! We want us to change.
We are given principles of how to begin anew. God is the initiator of change and renewal in our lives. He has been working all along – for those 722 years that they have been scattered to the wind – and all along, God has been orchestrating – working – to bring about what He brings about at this point. When God chooses to act – He acts!
But when the time had fully come – it was the perfect time.
Remember Jesus Christ, Superstar? Why did you not come now? Israel 4 BC had no mass communication.
But it was the right time – the perfect time to save the world. What is God doing in your life that you don’t see? We don’t know, because we don’t see it? Is there God stuff happening in my circumstances at work that I am missing? Or in my family? Or deep in my soul? Is there God stuff going on that we are missing. John’s parents were living their lives and God interrupts.
He will turn many back to God…
The goal is relationship with Him. It is not about getting rid of Rome – but bringing people back into relationship with Him. The problem is always centered around our relationship with God – that is where it needs to take place – it must start there.
Turn = repent. Turning requires repentance – but it is not ‘repenting from a specific sin or failure’ – but the turning of a life. A one-time decision (though we have to do it many times) – the decision to turn our lives back to God. Israel’s problem – they were heading away from God. What we can do – ask ourselves – where are our hearts – what direction are we going? Is it heading fully towards God? Or are there selfish ways that draw us and attract us – what is capturing your heart? Stress and anxiety? Reputation? Pleasure? If that is the case – your heart is not captured by God. We know what has captured our hearts – what has grabbed me? Is it God? We have to give God His rightful place – first place – Lord of our lives – and in doing that, we live a life of devotion and obedience.
Luke 1: 67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn[c] of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71 salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72 to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
God ties it all together in the birth of John – and ultimately fulfilled in Jesus – but John is inaugurating things for Jesus. John is a prophet – speaking to the people for God and sometimes acting it out with their lives. It was almost like they did skits – like Hosea – go and marry a prostitute – and then divorce her - and then take her back after she prostitutes again – but what is God doing? He is saying – that is what Israel is like – and I keep taking her back.
God would take the prophets and use them in dramatic ways.
Luke 3:2b he word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
John goes out into the wilderness – Like Israel – and it was if he was saying –that is where you are –
John could not go through the spiritual or political powers of the world – it had to be from the outside. Transformation takes place – we have to separate ourselves from the things of this world – as long as we are in the world – it will not work. But we have to separate ourselves so that we can engage.
Scholars would say that John went to the very place where Israel crossed the Jordan to do his baptizing. We have to go back to where it began – the beginning – to our salvation – we have to go back to the grace story –
Return to me the Joy of my salvation – to remember the point where we came to Him –
Forgiveness of sins – John is preaching repentance that they might know forgiveness – and it must come on that foundation. True repentance does not come from feeling bad – it comes from understanding forgiveness.
Finally – His job – in caps – making the rough roads smooth –
We drive to Columbus a lot – they have been doing a lot of construction – and it has a long few years – and if you hit it wrong – it is a nightmare. But as you watch – how much dirt needs to be removed – and I think that is what is going on with John – as he is preparing for Israel to receive their king – there is a lot of dirt that needs to be removed. As we prepare/hope/expect and long for transformation – a new beginning – a renewal – we must expect a lot of dirt that needs to be removed for our roads to become straight and level and smooth.