Making Room

Waiting can be pointless…coffee pot to finish — paint to dry — file to download — doctor’s office wait for name to be called — wife to come out to car

But then there is waiting that really matter…results of that biopsy or scan — teenager to come home when late — surgery to be over — bride walk down the isle — the cry of a new born in the delivery room

I fear the waiting we do during Advent is the empty and pointless kind

Waiting to sing Christmas carols and songs -- decorate the house — the parties — the gatherings — the festivities of Christmas

We wait by spending more than we can afford because we can’t wait to see their faces on Christmas day...

Waiting for Christmas to come in general…the gifts and treats…it is the happiest time of the year!

And if we don’t wait just right — we might spoil the entire season

Advent has to mean more than empty pointless waiting...

Why? Because we have real problems in the real world — we face real and present problems that trees and lights and decorations can’t solve

No matter how wonderful your Christmas is — what we need is not found under a tree or around a table — Christmas’ come and go and each year many in our world flip the calendar unchanged — disappointed — even worse than the year before

We are facing difficult times — real life issues and problems — it causes me to ask myself and you — What are you waiting for? Is your waiting pointless or does your waiting matter?

I am not suggesting we don’t do these things we love about this time of year — but advent must be a waiting that matters

Advent is all about promises

Promises matter to us don’t they — if we hear them and believe they create expectation…about the future

Promises don’t just create expectation but they also set something in motion

Promise my wife I’ll go on walk at Pokagon — she is dressed and ready to go before I wake up

Promise your boy that you will play catch after work — he is sitting in the drive with ball and mit as you pull in

Promise someone you’ll call after a date — he/she waits by the phone anticipating the call

Promises create an expectation about the future and that future expectation sets something in motion right here and now in the present

This is true about God’s promise! Advent is about God’s promise. That in a stable in Bethlehem God kept his promise to Israel and is making promises to us as well. That in Jesus, God hears our cries — sees our fear and our helpless condition — that at our lowest points he comes to us. Mark wasted no time getting to this promise fulfilled...

BIBLE

Mark 1:1 ESV

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Beginnings mean change — it means something new is happening

“gospel” — what is beginning is good news — it is something that promises change — promises things will be different

And if “the Son of God” is starting this it must be big — monumental — epic for all of us

Mark 1:2–3 ESV

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ”

Mark uses two key passages from the OT — Mal. 3:1 & Isa. 40:3

Mark focuses on 3 things — the messenger — the Lord — and the wilderness

We get the messenger — God is sending one before the Lord to prepare the way

We get the Lord — it is he who is coming to rescue his people and fulfill the promises he made

What is a little strange is the wilderness — why the wilderness?

Mark’s paraphrase of Isa. 40:3 points to the OT text but Isaiah itself gives us a deeper meaning...”A voice cries: In the wilderness...”

Isaiah 40:3 ESV

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Do you see the subtle difference how you could interpret this...”the voice of one crying in the wilderness” is different than “a voice cries: in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord”

Wilderness has a very symbolic meaning to the people — it points all the way back to their 40 years in the wilderness

Wilderness represents a time when God was preparing the people for entry into the promise land (that is, salvation)

Wilderness is a period of time when we are forced to live where don’t belong — a time to prepare as we wait for what is to come

So, what happens in the wilderness? when it feels like we are wandering aimlessly — we feel abandoned and alone — like God and others have forgotten us

How do we “prepare the way of the lord” in the wilderness?

Mark 1:4 ESV

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

The wilderness of life has a way of turning our lives toward the one who can help

It was in the wilderness that John preached a message of repentance

Repentance = turning — a change of heart and direction — some even describe it as making room for God to do what he wants

The people would have had flashbacks of the stories of the Exodus — it was 40 years in the wilderness that God used to turn their hearts away from Egypt (representing their sinful life) and toward God and his new promises of a better way.

For John — the forerunner of Jesus — the one who goes ahead to prepare the way — Repentance is necessary because we must be prepared for the final act in history

We must be prepared for the One who brings us the Kingdom of God — the last days — all of this will involve judgement and the pouring out of God’s spirit

Mark 1:5–6 ESV

And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

Maybe my two favorite verses in this section of the Bible — why? — Mark exaggerates — yes he uses hyperbole to make a point

“all the country of Judea” — “all Jerusalem” — do you think “all” the people went to see John? NO — but a lot of them did

Also Mark describes John — why would anyone leave the comfort of their home — their community — their city to go listen to this guy?

It gets better — what John was doing was so radical for a Jew that it seemed impossible — forgiving sins in the wilderness — they had one historical and religious way to have their sins forgiven — through animal sacrifice in the temple

These two verses tell us something very important about the people and what John was doing

The people were desperate — they were hungry for something new — they abandoned their religious rituals to go out to listen to a fiery, crazy dude

The people were hungry for something more than their current political, social, economic, and religious systems just could give them

It is almost like they were waiting for something better — something stronger — something more powerful and they hoped it was John

Traditions and religion are terrible substitutes for the real thing

When nothing in your world is working — repentance just might bring the change you need

Mark 1:7–8 TNIV

And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Gospel of Mark has a major theme to the whole book — Discipleship

He opens his story showing the truest meaning of what it means to be a disciple

He shows one person subservient to another who is greater

John declares his allegiance and subservience — “the one more powerful than I”

John shows his true repentance — my life points to the one who is greater than me — the one who brings the kingdom of heaven to earth — the one who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit — my life points to him and so should yours

APPLICATION

Where is your life pointing?

I would say that has a lot to do with how you are waiting

If you are waiting for a political — economic — social — and even a religious solution to bring the change you want — your waiting is empty and meaningless

But if we embrace this wilderness — if we allow all that is wrong now stir our hearts for what is coming — if we prepare as we wait by pointing our lives toward the one who is greater than all of it -- then our waiting is meaningful — then it will matter now

When Jesus is the one, the change will come

You have to make room for Him

You must realize that your life is pointed in the wrong direction

You must repent — turn away from that and toward Jesus

You must open our life to Jesus — He baptizes with the Holy Spirit — who when given the room to work begins to bring God’s kingdom to earth as it is in heaven — God begins to change you and the world around you