Preparation for Worship 12-7-2014 Scripture: Mark 1:1-8 Come and listen, come and sing, come and tell of Christ who is born in Bethlehem. The message of Advent is that Christ is born, the Son of God is born in a lowly manger. He is the Almighty God, Prince of Peace, the Messiah—God with us. The 2nd Sunday of Advent, we light the candle of preparation. The plans of Christ’s arrival were told through the scriptures of old by the prophets. It was a call for us to watch out and be prepared for the Messiah’s coming to the world. When I think of this word preparation, I think of what it takes to put things together at Christmas. When I was in college, I worked part-time at a local department store which had the biggest toy selection in the county. My job was to assemble the toys and displays for the toy department and for layaway gifts at Christmas. Part of the job was to read the instructions and make sure I had all the tools I needed to assemble the different toys. It took some time to prepare for this task, but once I had everything in place, the job was fairly simple. The people of Israel needed to take time to prepare for the Messiah. John was in the wilderness sharing about One that would come after him that was worthy of our worship; that would fulfill this role. All they needed to do to get ready was to repent and be baptized, to turn from their wickedness and sins and accept God’s forgiveness, to make a commitment to follow God and clear a straight path for His Son. All they needed to understand was that God’s plan was to come and dwell with them and lead them in paths of righteousness. “Clearing a straight path!” the prophet said. Now this is an interesting metaphor, too. It makes me think of cleaning up my room as a child. My mom would tell me that she can’t get in the room because there was no pathway. It was all cluttered with toys and dirty clothes and whatever. Clearing a path means I needed to pick up the dirty laundry, the toys, and the clutter and keep things clean so anyone could move around in the room. For the believer, “Clearing a straight path!” means that I keep my life ready, clean up the clutter so I do not miss the Christ Child and the blessings He has come to offer. It means that I need to continue in His Word, to pray and to encourage people with gentleness and respect. It means I need to use my gifts and abilities for His glory. It means I need to seek God’s forgiveness for my sins and I need help living a life that would represent my faith in Him. It means I need to dedicate and commit my life to worshipping the Almighty God. Preparation and clearing a straight path, repenting and being baptized allows me to keep a watchful eye for His coming into my world, my community and my life. Come, Lord Jesus, Come! gosoutheast.org/sermons
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 12:48:35 +0000
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