Sermon:  “In What Way Are You Prepared?”

The teacher knew that a particular student, named Gene, had not been working steadily on his paper as others had in the class, so he was prepared for some sort of excuse. Now the day of reckoning had come, the papers were due.  Gene, however, was prepared in one way.  When the teacher went to collect the papers Gene said, “My dog ate it.” The teacher, who had heard them all, gave Gene a hard stare of unbelief but Gene insisted and persisted, “It’s true. I had to force him, but he ate it.”

In What Way Are You Prepared?  A boy failed all his college work and wired his mother: "Failed everything; Prepare Papa." His mother wired back, "Papa prepared; Prepare yourself." Think about this in view of the days ahead. God is prepared. We need to prepare ourselves!

The best way to prepare for the coming of Christ is, of course, never to forget the presence of Christ, but in just sixteen days Christmas will be upon us and I wonder how many will recognize it for what it really is? How will we recognize Christ on Christmas Day? Jesus has given us more than just hints. “I was hungry,” He said, “and you gave Me food I was thirsty and you gave Me drink.  I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, naked and you clothed Me. I was ill and you comforted Me, in prison and you came to visit Me.”[1] Sixteen days from today, as we celebrate Christmas, will we have learned to recognize Jesus in this way or will we have pushed Him aside to make room for a benevolent Santa Claus? 

Today, Christmas in America is made up of many different traditions and cultures. Like so many other aspects of American life, this merging of traditions and cultures can be regarded as a very enriching experience. However, it has become so highly secularized that the true religious meaning of Christmas has been pushed aside. Christ, the embodiment of the God of Love', is no longer at the celebration's center. 

When and how does Christ come to us as the embodiment of the God of love? A missionary we will call “William,” tells about an unexpected, but beautifully enriching experience of Christ coming into his life. He had gone to a large city which he regarded as prime mission territory. In his words, his purpose was to “Bring Christ there.” However, he discovered that Christ was there already, in the love and honesty and generosity of the lives of the people he had come to change. Through them, Christ had come to William. Through them, Christ had changed William. 

There was a sign in the window of a downtown University building which reads, “Forget about school, and no one will be the wiser. Especially you.” If we were to paraphrase that statement it could read like this: “On Christmas Day, forget about Christ as the embodiment of the God of love, and no one will be the wiser. Especially you!”  “Make ready the way of the Lord, clear Him a straight path ... and all mankind shall see the salvation of God.”

There is a legend, out of the Middle Ages, in which a young woman is expelled from Heaven.  She is told that if she would bring back the gift that is most valued by God, she would be welcomed back.

She brought back drops of blood from a dying patriot.

She brought back some coins that a destitute widow had given to the poor.

She brought back a remnant of a Bible that had been used for years by an eminent preacher.

She brought back some dust from the shoes of a holy missionary who labored in a remote wasteland.

She brought back many similar things, but was turned back repeatedly.

One day, she saw a small boy, playing by a fountain.  A man rode up on horseback and dismounted to take a drink.  The man saw the child and suddenly remembered his own boyhood innocence.  Then, looking down into the fountain, he saw the reflection of his hardened face, and he realized what he had done with his life, and tears of repentance welled up in his eyes and began to trickle down his cheeks.  The young woman took one of these tears back to Heaven and was received with great rejoicing.

Do you remember the story of Pinocchio?  Whenever he told a lie, his nose got longer.  But one novelist[2] wrote an even better story.  It is about a man who, every time he did something that was at odds with his true self -- every time he yielded to the devil's voice, he shrank a little. He became smaller and smaller.  Outwardly, we may project a giant image, but inwardly, we can be all shriveled up -- and know it.  We can have lost our way.  We do not know what we stand for.  We do not know what to believe anymore.  We do not know who or what to depend on anymore.  And we quickly and easily conform to any principle that comes our way.  Which is to say, we join the ranks of those who believe that the easiest way to get rid of temptation is to give in to it.  And we discover that the price of yielding is to experience utter emptiness.  The answer, however, is to “repent”…listen for the “Word of the Lord” and begin to prepare for His arrival.

“Be still, and know that I am God,” says the Lord.  “I will allure you, and lead you into the wilderness, and there I will speak tenderly to you.  There I will speak to your heart.” 

In the Colorado desert there is a remote area called “Nada,” which in Spanish means “Nothing”.  The founders of the place called it Nada in order to remind those attending a retreat there of their total dependence on God: that apart from God they are nothing.  On one occasion, the “Nada” people reserved five hermitages for a group of college students who were coming there for a month ...

When the month was over, the five college students said that their first week of silence was a crisis week for them.  They had been conditioned, in their young lives, to believe that they just could not live without constant, deafening noise: the stereo, and the TV and the telephone and the cell phones and the roaring car engines.  Which is to say, they had not been conditioned to listen for the quiet voices from within.

One of the students said that the first week of silence was like going “cold turkey” off some addiction.  But all of them said that before the month was over, they experienced the healing and the life-enrichment that comes when, in the silence, you hear the Voice of God tenderly speaking to your heart.  “Be still, and know that I am God!” says the Lord.

In the desert of Judea over two thousand years ago, a voice cried out the news of the coming of the Lord. John the Baptist attracted new followers throughout the surrounding area as he urged his listeners to reform and to be baptized in preparation for the coming of Christ. However, when the crowds flocked to him for baptism, he was not willing to administer the rite without some evidence of their sincerity. When the people asked, “What ought we to do?” he replied in specifics. They must help people who needed to be fed and clothed. Those among them who used their positions to cheat, exploit and bully other people' must stop those practices at once. In other words, it was not enough to come, confess sins, and be baptized. To properly prepare oneself for the coming of the Lord, one must be ready and willing to change.  We are being asked to prepare for the coming of the Lord Jesus by radically changing, reforming, honestly preparing our lives.

Mark Twain once told the following story in a speech he delivered on the virtue of “honesty.”  “When I was a boy, I was walking along a street and happened to spy a cart full of watermelons. I was fond of watermelon, so I sneaked quietly up to the cart and snitched one. Then I ran into a nearby alley and sank my teeth into the melon. No sooner had I done so, however, than a strange feeling came over me. Without a moment's hesitation, I made my decision. I walked back to the cart, replaced the melon-and took a ripe one.” 

Perhaps that is what happens to some of us when we hear the term repentance. We've already bit into the watermelon when we hear the voice crying out, ‘Prepare your lives.” Suddenly, a strange feeling comes over us. We are being asked to put the watermelon back and we can feel something tugging us toward the cart from which we had taken it. We may even go so far as to replace it. Then, only, to see another, a more inviting melon and we reach out for it and we are lost again. 

If you think that you have nothing to repent, no need to change, no preparations to rethink, then reflect again about the opportunities you have lost to be of genuine service to other people -- people in need, people who are hurting.

When you invite special guests to your home, do you warm up the leftovers in the refrigerator and serve them on paper plates in front of the television? Of course not. Most of us prepare a special meal, use our best dishes and arrange our schedules so that we can spend quality time with our guests. In other words, we offer them our very best.

How many of us invite Jesus into our life and then serve Him "leftovers"? We give Him time "leftover" from our work, our families or our recreation. We give Him talents "leftover" from our social organizations, our sports activities or our hobbies. We give Him money "leftover" after we pay our bills and our taxes and put some money aside for our vacation.  Numbers 18:29 says it simply, "Out of all the gifts you receive you shall set aside the contributions to the Lord; and the gift which you hallow must be taken from the choicest of them."  Have I given to the Lord who died for me the choicest, or have I given Him "leftovers"?

A farmer had an old hound dog that he cherished. One day the dog disappeared, and several weeks passed without his return. In spite of this, the farmer continued to set out fresh food for the dog every day.

Finally, in curiosity, one of the farmer's neighbors asked why he continued to set out food for the dog when he obviously was not returning.

"He will be back," replied the farmer. "Because he knows I am here waiting for him. And when he gets here I want him to know he is welcome back."

Today we prepare for Christ to come again into our lives during this Christmas season, but we are also continuing to make our preparations for Christ's return.  We do not know the day nor the hour of His return, but we are confident that He is coming back and for us Christians, the question is not “What ought we to do?” Rather, it is ”When are we going to do it?” In what way are you prepared?

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Last modified: 08/25/05