Main Idea: Those who are shipwrecked at the stable prepare their heart for the rule of Christ by confronting the truth about them.

This Advent we are talking about those who are the shipwrecked at the stable of Jesus Christ. A person who is shipwrecked at the stable is a believer who has come to the end of themselves and holds in desperation to the person of Jesus Christ as their absolute confidence and hope. Brennan Manning writes, "The shipwrecked have stood at the still-point of a turning world and discovered that the human heart is made for Jesus Christ and cannot be content with less." (Watch for the Light, p. 193) Today we will discover that our heart is not prepared to receive the rule of Jesus Christ unless we are confronted with the truth about ourselves.

As we hear the text for this Sunday it reminds us of the role of John the Baptist to prepare the hearts of people to receive the rule of Jesus Christ by confronting them with the truth about themselves. Thirty years after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem John the Baptist came into the areas of the Judean wilderness calling for the Jewish people to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah by preparing their heart. John did this by boldly confronting people of all levels of life in his culture with the truth about themselves. He told the crowds that were intrigued, the religious leaders who were infuriated, the Roman soldiers who were interested, and the politicians who were insulted the same message: Prepare your heart for one who is coming to examine your heart! He told them all the truth and it would ultimately cost him his life but he fulfilled his call from God to confront his culture with the truth!

The season of Advent is about preparation for the coming rule of Christ in the past, in the present and in the future. Yet of all the preparations we make, from decorations to parties to presents and menus, the most important preparation we can make is the inward preparation of our heart. Why is the preparation of our heart so important? When we speak of our heart we are talking about the very center core of our very being. Our heart is that part of us that contains our "will" or our ability to initiate, create or bring to reality what didn’t exit before. It also comprises our "spirit" or that part of us that is distinct and independent from anything physical yet is nevertheless real. Our human heart is the place that gives life to all the other functions of our body. In the same way, our spiritual heart is the executive center of a human life. "The heart is where decisions and choices are made for the whole person" (Renovation of the Heart, p. 31-31). The function of our heart is to "organize our life as a whole and, indeed, to organize it around God." (ROH, p. 35)

If your heart is the place where the organization of your life occurs, then the question is, "How is it going down deep within you?" Is your "heart," the decisions and choices of your life, truly centered around God? Are there sins that have "calcified" like plaque in your veins that are restricting the flow of God’s life in and through you? Is the "rhythm " of your heart so out of sync that you are distracted constantly from even the least concentration on the spiritual part of you? Have the spiritual "muscles" of your heart become exhausted by the stress of trying to live life on your terms? Has your internal "diet" become so vacant that nothing is strengthening your soul?

If this describes the condition of my spiritual heart, then what do I need to do to prepare my heart for the rule of Christ? The answer is to actively pursue a confrontation with the truth about our self. How do you do that? We do it by listening to the truth, being ruthlessly honest, allowing our deepest hypocrisy to be exposed and immersing ourselves in life that continually renews our hearts.

John the Baptist’s message was one of confronting people with the truth about themselves. What I find interesting is that John preached his message in the most bleak and inhospitable location and people still came to hear him. Matthew 3:1 says he preached "in the Judean wilderness." Other translations say, "the Desert of Judea." Later in verse 5 it says, "People from Jerusalem and from every section of Judea and from all over the Jordan Valley went out to the wilderness to hear him preach." What would have caused people of all levels of society to leave the accessible areas of their communities to go to the most remote and inaccessible to be blistered by some radical religious extremist?

There are several reasons that people were willing to go out to hear John. The one that was the most compelling was that there had not been anyone like John around for over four hundred years and people were longing for someone to tell them the truth. Luke writes in great detail of the political and religious rulers who were in charge of the region and every one of them was nothing more than a ruthless, corrupt, immoral, power hungry leader whose sole interest was control and satisfaction of the Roman government. The people had not had anyone for over four hundred years whose life was so consumed with the Word of God and the truth of that word. Then when John came along they were compelled to go and listen regardless of how painful it was.

Listening to the truth about ourselves is something that is always painful, yet at the same time we are drawn to hear it. In A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens describes the condition of the heart of Ebenezer Scrooge in vivid terms: "Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint…He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the summer; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas."

Later Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted by different ghosts or spirits hoping to awaken his heart from its frozen condition of cruelty toward others. The first to confront him with the truth was the ghost of his business partner Jacob Marley. Scrooge has listened intently, scared out of his wits. Marley cries, "Hear me!…My time is nearly gone…I am here tonight to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate." Scrooge responds by saying, "You always were a good friend to me." Scrooge knew that only by listening to the truth could his heart be prepared for what was to come.

Here’s the question: Will you listen to the truth about yourself? There’s a compelling power in the truth of God’s message to us that draws us back to it over and over. Will you listen as he speaks to you in the circumstances around you? Will you listen as he speaks to you in the longings within you? Will you listen to his Word as it addresses you? Will you dare to place yourself in a position to connect with the truth through the Bible? The truth about ourselves is never easy to hear but that is the place that preparing our heart begins.

The message of John, as I said, was one that focused on the truth. That message, though, was flawlessly clear in its content: "Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the kingdom of Heaven is near!" (Matt. 3:2). John is saying that the coming rule of the Messiah demanded a change of life and heart. He quotes from the Old Testament as Isaiah describes the internal preparation that would be required for the presence of the Messiah to rule in their hearts. The people’s response was consistent with the message: "They confessed their sins" and John "baptized them into a changed life" (Msg. V. 6).

The word John used for "turn from your sins" is the word "repentance." It means "change one’s ways." It’s more than just a change of mind or feeling but a change of action. Richard Jansen said that sometimes we think of repentance as an "I can" experience, meaning essentially, "I can do better." Yet it is more than that. In fact it is a step farther. It is an "I can’t" experience, meaning "I can’t keep doing, living, thinking, acting, being, like this one more moment of my life." It means that I am ruthlessly honest with myself.

When Scrooge is met with the Ghost of Christ Past he realizes the pain of a relationship with a young girl to whom he was engaged that he had dismissed because of his greed. When he sees all that could have been, he says, "Spirit! Remove me from this place." The Spirit says, "I told you these were the shadows of things that have been…That they are what they are do not blame me!" Scrooge pleads, "Remove me! I cannot bear it! Leave me! Take me back! Haunt me no longer!" The ruthless honesty with which he was confronted was essential to the preparation of his heart.

What will cause you to see the truth about yourself with ruthless honesty? Being made uncomfortable about some character flaw in our personality makes us say half-heartedly, "I can do better." Yet when we dare to be ruthlessly honest with our self we come to a place where we say, "I can’t go on like this!" What area of your heart do you need to be ruthlessly honest? Replacing the truth with denial is a choice that will only further the chaos of our soul. I need to be ruthlessly honest with myself if I am preparing my heart for the rule of Christ.

Of all the people who went out to John in the wilderness there was one group that you least expected to appear—the Pharisees and Sadducees. This group of Jewish religious leaders appeared not so much for the purpose of confessing their need for repentance but demonstrating their need for control. They controlled the current religious climate and John the Baptist was not exactly someone they could control. Why did they come? Perhaps they sensed a trend or maybe they saw they were already losing power and wanted to connect with this obviously dynamic voice of the people.

Whatever their reason for coming, John saw straight through their pretension and struck deeply at their hypocrisy. He uses language that would be immediately offensive and judgmental (v. 7). He then tells them that if they have any hope of being saved from the judgment of God that they would need to demonstrate the reality of their convictions by their actions. (v. 8) Their response would have been one that claimed security in their heritage but John cuts through that, saying that God is able to turn rocks into the faithful, if he needs to (v. 9). He adds that they can only expect and anticipate God’s judgment because he is ready to execute it (v. 10). In John’s words he is forcefully and incisively exposing their hypocrisy.

Having our hypocrisy exposed is extremely uncomfortable, yet it is necessary if our hearts are to be prepared for the rule of Christ. In A Christmas Carol, before Scrooge was ever confronted with his own sins against humanity, he is approached by two men collecting funds to help the poor. They tell Scrooge their purpose and his response is, "Are there no prisons?…Are there no workhouses?" that are supported by his taxes. He suggests when told that the poor would rather die than go to those places, "They had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." When the Ghost of Christmas Present appears to Scrooge, the Spirit showed him two children who were disfigured, gaunt, pale and suffering from malnutrition. Scrooge is told that they are figures that represent the destruction of society if they are not served. Scrooge’s response is, "Have they no refuge or resources?" The Spirit has only two final words, "Are there no prisons?…Are there no workhouses?"

The hypocrisy of Scrooge’s heart was exposed and it left him speechless. Are you willing for the Spirit of God to so penetrate your heart and expose your hypocrisy? Is it not hypocrisy to have the emotion of compassion and concern for those under-resourced at Christmas but are uncomfortable actually having contact with "those people"? Is it not hypocrisy to claim to be a Christ follower but never involve yourself with anyone who needs to follow? Is it not hypocrisy for me to choose which hypocrisy I want to expose when I am reluctant to have my own exposed? If I am to prepare my heart for the rule of Christ I need my deepest hypocrisy exposed.

John’s last statement is one that brings both promise and warning. He tells those who have come to hear him that his baptism is just the first step in their transformation. He says that one is coming who will immerse them in the Holy Spirit and fire (v. 11). He says that the presence of the One who is coming will not only purge their life inwardly of sin but also divide humanity according to their response to his judgment. (v. 12).

There is no question that John is referring to Jesus. When Jesus appears publicly he will offer more than what John can offer. John can only offer a temporary transformation. Yet what Jesus offers is permanent immersion in life that is beyond all human expectation. John is telling me that if I am going to prepare my heart for the rule of Christ then I need to be immersed in life that is beyond myself.

The last of the Spirits to visit Scrooge was the Ghost of Christmas Future. In a vivid way the Spirit shows Scrooge the end for him by pointing to his own tombstone—a neglected graved marked "Ebenezer Scrooge." Seeing this finally devastates all of Scrooge’s excuses and defenses and he cries, "Spirit hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been…Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me by an altered life!" Scrooge awakens from his night of judgment and finds himself in his own bed clinging to his bedpost. He says with joy, "I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future!…The Spirit’s of all Three shall strive within me…Heaven and Christmastime be praised for this! I say it on my knees…on my knees." Scrooge’s heart had become immersed in life that was beyond his own.

Do you see that that is what is waiting for you when you open your heart to the rule of Christ? You need to be immersed in life that is beyond your life if you ever hope for real transformation. You might be able to make some temporary adjustments in your behavior but unless you have the power of God’s Spirit within you, transforming you, it won’t last. Jesus Christ has come to purge, cleanse, remove, wash my heart of sin. That doesn’t come without the power of His Spirit and the pain of his evaluation. If you have any hope of saying, "I am not who I was or must have been," it will come only when you are immersed with life that is beyond yourself!

What will it take for your heart to be prepared for the rule of Christ? For those in John’s day it took a voice that told the truth so clearly that people, even insincere people, couldn’t resist listening and repeating. For Ebenezer Scrooge it took a nightmare that revealed the true nature of his heart to bring repentance. Christ is coming to rule, of that there is no debate. The question is: Is your heart prepared? It will be if you listen to the truth, are willing to be ruthlessly honest, are willing to expose your hypocrisy and allow your life to be immersed in life that is beyond your own power! The shipwrecked at the stable are those whose hearts are prepared for the rule of Christ.

In A Christmas Carol Scrooge was changed because his heart was transformed. In fact, people laughed at him because of how different he was. "It was said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well if any man alive possessed the knowledge." Two thousand years ago shepherds didn’t hear "spirits" but angels. Their hearts were transformed by this "message:" "This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." They would forever be shipwrecked at the stable. What will it take for your heart to be ready to join them?

(Quotations from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens are found in A Christmas Carol by Simon and Schuster, 1939, Pocket Books edition.)

Sunday, December 5, 2004

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org