WEBVTT 00:00:00.970 --> 00:00:04.950 What is your expectation of peace? For some of 00:00:04.950 --> 00:00:07.290 us, peace is finally getting home after a long 00:00:07.290 --> 00:00:10.130 day and realizing you don't have to be anywhere. 00:00:10.609 --> 00:00:13.070 Isn't that a good feeling? Just take your shoes 00:00:13.070 --> 00:00:15.490 off or maybe you turn off the lights, right? 00:00:15.869 --> 00:00:18.289 You're grabbing your favorite blanket, you're 00:00:18.289 --> 00:00:20.449 cuddling up. Mine, it's this black and white 00:00:20.449 --> 00:00:22.350 one that has a smooth side and the other side 00:00:22.350 --> 00:00:24.719 is kind of fuzzy. All right? And you're watching 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:27.079 a movie that you've already seen a million times 00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:29.379 because you don't really have the energy for 00:00:29.379 --> 00:00:31.859 plot twists. I mean, Marty McFly is always going 00:00:31.859 --> 00:00:34.399 to go back in time and always going to try and 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:36.579 fix his family and everything else. And it's 00:00:36.579 --> 00:00:39.340 amazing. And I don't care how many times I see 00:00:39.340 --> 00:00:43.100 it, it's still great. Hokeiest science in the 00:00:43.100 --> 00:00:46.079 world, but it's amazing. Or maybe sometimes peace 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:48.380 is just simply trying to make it through a day 00:00:48.380 --> 00:00:51.880 without having somebody tell you, hey, we need 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:56.020 to talk. You know, we often imagine peace as 00:00:56.020 --> 00:00:59.240 the absence of conflict, everything going our 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:03.439 way, having control, being quiet, or even just 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:06.719 the chance to finally relax when the world stops 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:10.040 bothering us. Basically, peace is when everyone 00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:12.579 and everything cooperates with our plans, right? 00:01:13.799 --> 00:01:17.180 Michael Caine, the actor, one time said, be like 00:01:17.180 --> 00:01:21.120 a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:24.549 like the dickens underneath. And honestly, that 00:01:24.549 --> 00:01:28.129 describes how many of us try to attain peace, 00:01:29.209 --> 00:01:32.750 look serene on the outside, pretend everything's 00:01:32.750 --> 00:01:35.430 okay, and meanwhile paddle frantically under 00:01:35.430 --> 00:01:38.310 the water and hope that nobody notices the chaos. 00:01:39.609 --> 00:01:42.609 But that raises a question. If there's paddling, 00:01:43.450 --> 00:01:48.670 pressure, fear, uncertainty, does that mean that 00:01:48.670 --> 00:01:53.239 peace has disappeared? Does peace only exist 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:56.920 when nothing is wrong? Because the truth is the 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:01.000 world around us has never really been calm, right? 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:04.920 Especially, I would say, coming from the experience 00:02:04.920 --> 00:02:09.840 of being an exenial. Exenial? What is that? Well, 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.800 you've heard of Generation X. You've heard of 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:15.490 Millennials. Well apparently there's this little 00:02:15.490 --> 00:02:17.930 pocket right there, right in the middle between 00:02:17.930 --> 00:02:21.590 the two, about six years of people who grew up 00:02:21.590 --> 00:02:24.430 with the old way of doing things in the world 00:02:24.430 --> 00:02:27.710 that Gen X understood, but had to also learn 00:02:27.710 --> 00:02:31.050 about computers and the internet. You know, those 00:02:31.050 --> 00:02:33.289 of us who had the little Frogger bloop bloop 00:02:33.289 --> 00:02:35.449 bloop and the number munchers and Oregon Trail 00:02:35.449 --> 00:02:38.909 and everything else. Well, I started making a 00:02:38.909 --> 00:02:41.650 note of all the things that exenials like myself 00:02:41.650 --> 00:02:45.090 have had to go through. And some of them include 00:02:45.090 --> 00:02:49.110 1984, giving us the first Apple Macintosh and 00:02:49.110 --> 00:02:51.430 launching us into the age of personal computers 00:02:51.430 --> 00:02:55.909 at home. 1986, where we were so excited to watch 00:02:55.909 --> 00:02:59.050 the space shuttle going off into space, only 00:02:59.050 --> 00:03:01.770 to see the Challenger exploding while we were 00:03:01.770 --> 00:03:07.189 at school. 1989, watching the Berlin Wall fall. 00:03:07.789 --> 00:03:10.669 But that same year, Tiananmen Square, in dealing 00:03:10.669 --> 00:03:13.639 with what was seeing with China and its communist 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:17.020 party and the people there. The Exxon Valdez 00:03:17.020 --> 00:03:19.719 spill and all the ducks trying to get away from 00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:23.060 it. The collapse of Eastern European regimes. 00:03:23.900 --> 00:03:26.939 91 having Operation Desert Storm, the end of 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:30.879 the Soviet Union, and Rodney King in LA followed 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:35.000 the next year by the riots. 93 being the first 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:38.319 World Trade Center bombing. How many of us forgot 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:42.520 about that eight years before 2001? and the Waco 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:46.180 siege with the Branch Davidians. Or in 94 with 00:03:46.180 --> 00:03:49.139 the Rwandan genocide and watching O .J. Simpson 00:03:49.139 --> 00:03:52.280 being chased down the highway while many of us 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:54.860 were saying, who in the world is O .J. Simpson? 00:03:56.699 --> 00:03:58.340 The thing is is that that's the world that we 00:03:58.340 --> 00:04:02.439 grew up in. Today's world? Not really all that 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:06.199 different. If peace depends on calm circumstances, 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:09.659 let's just be honest. None of us have experienced 00:04:09.659 --> 00:04:13.139 that since we started going to school. So maybe 00:04:13.139 --> 00:04:16.300 our expectations of peace are just too restricted, 00:04:16.699 --> 00:04:20.019 too simple. Maybe we think peace is a mood or 00:04:20.019 --> 00:04:22.939 a setting, a temporary ceasefire or an escape 00:04:22.939 --> 00:04:26.279 from other people's expectations. But you know, 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:28.860 Advent, it asks this deeper, harder question. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:34.100 What if real peace doesn't come where you expect 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:37.000 it? What if it doesn't look like what you imagine? 00:04:37.449 --> 00:04:40.769 What if peace isn't the absence of trouble? What 00:04:40.769 --> 00:04:43.730 if instead it's the presence of God in the middle 00:04:43.730 --> 00:04:47.430 of it? But that question opens the door straight 00:04:47.430 --> 00:04:50.910 into Isaiah See Isaiah shifts the camera for 00:04:50.910 --> 00:04:54.269 us the devastation It's still fresh in their 00:04:54.269 --> 00:04:57.230 minds the superpowers of the ancient world that 00:04:57.230 --> 00:05:00.290 were all around them these massive empires that 00:05:00.290 --> 00:05:04.350 looked immovable They're being felled over like 00:05:04.350 --> 00:05:08.779 trees in a storm Assyria swollen with its arrogance 00:05:08.779 --> 00:05:11.660 and boasting of its strength where it had brought 00:05:11.660 --> 00:05:15.300 down Israel, it's going to be cut down as well. 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:19.759 And Judah, the southern kingdom, God's own people, 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:22.399 they're not going to escape from discipline. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:26.639 They're going to fall as well. Their kings, their 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:31.709 pride, their defenses, all laid low. See, picture 00:05:31.709 --> 00:05:34.250 the landscape after a hurricane has torn through. 00:05:34.550 --> 00:05:38.410 Trunks snapped, roots exposed, the silence of 00:05:38.410 --> 00:05:41.709 judgment lingering in the air. That's the scene 00:05:41.709 --> 00:05:45.470 that Isaiah gives us to feel. But in the middle 00:05:45.470 --> 00:05:48.810 of the ruin, he says something very strange. 00:05:49.610 --> 00:05:52.269 A shoot will come out of the stump of Jesse. 00:05:53.149 --> 00:05:55.810 Not from a palace with banners still flying, 00:05:56.069 --> 00:05:58.850 not from a throne room still humming with life. 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:04.319 Not even from the stump of David. The famous 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:06.800 king that everyone remembered. This is out of 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:11.639 the stump of Jesse, his dad. Why Jesse? It's 00:06:11.639 --> 00:06:14.939 sort of like saying, go back before the glory 00:06:14.939 --> 00:06:19.420 days. Strip away the nostalgia of David. Start 00:06:19.420 --> 00:06:22.779 from scratch with his father. And go back into 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:26.350 that line. from a dead stump, from forgotten 00:06:26.350 --> 00:06:28.910 roots, from a people who have been through judgment, 00:06:29.149 --> 00:06:33.930 loss, exile, shame. It's like whenever you try 00:06:33.930 --> 00:06:37.449 to recover a plant that's at your home that doesn't 00:06:37.449 --> 00:06:40.410 seem to be doing well. When I moved into my home 00:06:40.410 --> 00:06:44.529 four years ago and the owners told me this bush 00:06:44.529 --> 00:06:49.350 died during the winter storm of 21, well, did 00:06:49.350 --> 00:06:51.910 I dig it out? Did I pull it out of the ground? 00:06:52.750 --> 00:06:55.910 I broke off all of the dead limbs all over it 00:06:55.910 --> 00:06:59.649 and left the base stump sitting there for two 00:06:59.649 --> 00:07:04.009 years. And now it's beautiful and thriving again. 00:07:04.930 --> 00:07:08.110 See, that's God's pattern. When people expect 00:07:08.110 --> 00:07:11.329 peace to come through strength, God's peace comes 00:07:11.329 --> 00:07:14.730 through weakness. When God expects peace to come 00:07:14.730 --> 00:07:17.709 through victory, God grows peace through humility. 00:07:18.170 --> 00:07:21.290 When people expect peace to come through domination, 00:07:21.629 --> 00:07:25.050 God grows peace through righteousness and justice. 00:07:26.209 --> 00:07:28.629 Some of you know what that feels like. You may 00:07:28.629 --> 00:07:32.329 have given up on the very idea of peace a long 00:07:32.329 --> 00:07:35.329 time ago. Maybe you're already telling yourself 00:07:35.329 --> 00:07:38.949 there's no point in hoping or even trying. Just 00:07:38.949 --> 00:07:43.910 count the days until this is over. Judah was 00:07:43.910 --> 00:07:47.779 living under that cloud for over a century. watching 00:07:47.779 --> 00:07:51.759 as Israel had fell already and feeling that weight, 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:55.399 wondering if they were going to be next, all 00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:58.399 trying to appease the little idols that they 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:02.240 had adopted from all the other countries, imitating 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:05.339 powers all around them. They were exhausted, 00:08:05.500 --> 00:08:08.199 they were anxious, they were spiritually numb. 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:12.519 And right there, in the long ache of waiting, 00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:18.920 God whispers, Watch the stump. Don't look for 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:21.759 another David in the mirror. Don't look for him 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:24.980 to come in his armor. Don't look for a savior 00:08:24.980 --> 00:08:27.959 who fits the old mold of success, power, force, 00:08:28.379 --> 00:08:32.879 bravado. Look for something new. Something small, 00:08:33.500 --> 00:08:38.139 gentle, unexpected. Look for life growing where 00:08:38.139 --> 00:08:41.980 no life should be. And then Isaiah lifts our 00:08:41.980 --> 00:08:46.639 eyes to see that world. transformed. Wolves lying 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:49.639 down with lambs. Children playing safely where 00:08:49.639 --> 00:08:52.559 danger once lived. The earth itself overflowing 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:56.360 with the knowledge of the Lord. This is not peace 00:08:56.360 --> 00:09:00.279 that tweaks politics. This is peace that rewrites 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:05.019 creation. A kind of peace the world has never 00:09:05.019 --> 00:09:08.279 imagined. Is it any wonder that people weren't 00:09:08.279 --> 00:09:11.710 ready for it? You see, for a moment there in 00:09:11.710 --> 00:09:13.750 Israel's history, some people might have wondered 00:09:13.750 --> 00:09:16.990 if the next king was the one who was going to 00:09:16.990 --> 00:09:21.190 fulfill Isaiah's promise. And Hezekiah, he did 00:09:21.190 --> 00:09:25.309 bring reform. He tore down the idols. He redirected 00:09:25.309 --> 00:09:28.129 the nation to trust God again. And for a brief 00:09:28.129 --> 00:09:30.990 season under his leadership, there was actually 00:09:30.990 --> 00:09:34.169 hope. A little green shoot breaking through the 00:09:34.169 --> 00:09:38.230 soil. But Hezekiah was only a taste, not the 00:09:38.230 --> 00:09:42.710 meal. A hint, not the reality. A shadow, not 00:09:42.710 --> 00:09:45.889 the substance. Because even Hezekiah, as faithful 00:09:45.889 --> 00:09:48.889 as he was, he still struggled to trust God completely. 00:09:50.029 --> 00:09:52.470 His famous moment with the Babylonian envoys 00:09:52.470 --> 00:09:56.110 showed that even he wavered, revealing his wealth 00:09:56.110 --> 00:10:01.789 instead of relying on God's wisdom. His reign 00:10:01.789 --> 00:10:04.870 may have been good, but it wasn't the promised 00:10:04.870 --> 00:10:08.000 peace they were waiting for. See, God gives his 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:09.899 people these little previews so that they learn 00:10:09.899 --> 00:10:14.179 to expect more, not settle for less. Hezekiah 00:10:14.179 --> 00:10:16.659 whetted the appetite. He reminded Israel what 00:10:16.659 --> 00:10:18.919 it looked like when someone walked in the fear 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:23.120 of the Lord. But he was not the promised king. 00:10:24.100 --> 00:10:27.940 That longing, that ache, sets the stage perfectly 00:10:27.940 --> 00:10:31.159 for John the Baptist. And so we go to the wilderness 00:10:31.159 --> 00:10:35.100 to hear John, who is preaching repentance. not 00:10:35.100 --> 00:10:37.500 just to scold everyone and not to just bring 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:42.279 shame, but to prepare people. He's clearing the 00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:45.259 space. He's leveling the ground. He's pulling 00:10:45.259 --> 00:10:47.659 the weeds out of people's expectations so they 00:10:47.659 --> 00:10:51.500 can recognize the Messiah when He appears. See, 00:10:51.500 --> 00:10:58.779 John is saying, reset your expectations. Scrub 00:10:58.779 --> 00:11:02.379 your assumptions. Clear the soil of your heart. 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:05.820 because you cannot see the Messiah if you're 00:11:05.820 --> 00:11:11.139 anchored to the wrong story. See, the thing about 00:11:11.139 --> 00:11:14.559 anchors though, there's something that we oftentimes 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:19.120 go through that's called anchoring bias. It's 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:21.500 the tendency to let the first thing that you 00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:25.259 hear, the first voice that you trust, the first 00:11:25.259 --> 00:11:28.059 explanation that you receive become your default. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:32.340 Once the anchor is dropped, everything new gets 00:11:32.340 --> 00:11:35.899 interpreted through it, even if the anchor is 00:11:35.899 --> 00:11:40.460 wrong. And Israel had plenty of anchors. We have 00:11:40.460 --> 00:11:45.620 anchors. John was trying to reset them. There 00:11:45.620 --> 00:11:47.919 were three ways that people could have looked 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:52.360 at Jesus when he was coming along. If people 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:56.039 were coming from the anchor of the Pharisees, 00:11:56.419 --> 00:11:59.799 if they were expecting peace through rule -keeping, 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:04.320 priority of purity codes and moral superiority. 00:12:05.100 --> 00:12:06.820 Well, the problem is that Jesus was just going 00:12:06.820 --> 00:12:09.779 to disappoint them. If they started with an anchor 00:12:09.779 --> 00:12:13.700 of Rome, well, you expect peace through force 00:12:13.700 --> 00:12:15.919 and economic strength and political dominance, 00:12:16.679 --> 00:12:19.940 then Jesus was going to confuse you. But if your 00:12:19.940 --> 00:12:23.960 anchor is John, if you expect peace through repentance, 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:29.659 openness, humility, readiness, Jesus will fulfill 00:12:29.659 --> 00:12:34.240 you. See, this is why God, again in mercy, he 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:38.120 sent John first. John is not the peace. John 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:41.960 is the preparation for peace. John cannot give 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:44.159 the kind of peace that people wanted because 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:46.840 he was pointing toward the kind of peace that 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:50.259 people needed. See, some of Jesus' very first 00:12:50.259 --> 00:12:52.600 disciples, they actually came out of John the 00:12:52.600 --> 00:12:56.440 Baptist's inner circle. And it matters because 00:12:56.440 --> 00:13:00.399 they were ready when others were not. You see, 00:13:00.740 --> 00:13:03.399 John had trained them to expect humility instead 00:13:03.399 --> 00:13:07.480 of power, truth instead of comfort, repentance 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:11.700 instead of defending yourself, God's surprising 00:13:11.700 --> 00:13:15.240 work instead of their own assumptions. See, John 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:18.120 didn't just preach repentance. He was reshaping 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:21.679 the expectations. He was trying to loosen their 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:24.600 anchors to the old so they could find something 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:28.360 entirely new. See, the ones who followed after 00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:31.320 John, they had begun unlearning the beliefs that 00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:33.919 would have blocked them from recognizing Jesus. 00:13:34.740 --> 00:13:37.259 So when Jesus appeared with a peace unlike anything 00:13:37.259 --> 00:13:41.100 they had imagined, they didn't resist it. They 00:13:41.100 --> 00:13:44.740 recognized it. See, this is a crucial insight 00:13:44.740 --> 00:13:49.620 is that you cannot receive unexpected peace while 00:13:49.620 --> 00:13:54.240 holding on to unexamined expectations. You cannot 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:59.539 receive unexpected peace while holding onto unexamined 00:13:59.539 --> 00:14:05.340 expectations. It's sort of like that classic 00:14:05.340 --> 00:14:08.899 sitcom, How I Met Your Mother, long, long time 00:14:08.899 --> 00:14:12.279 ago, where Ted would have never been able to 00:14:12.279 --> 00:14:15.059 meet Robin if it weren't for Barney coming in 00:14:15.059 --> 00:14:19.120 and saying, have you met Ted? See, sometimes 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:23.139 we're open to the next voice when someone we 00:14:23.139 --> 00:14:28.370 trust introduces it. John is the, have you met 00:14:28.370 --> 00:14:32.690 Jesus? Of the New Testament. Pointing toward 00:14:32.690 --> 00:14:36.269 beyond himself so that people could meet the 00:14:36.269 --> 00:14:40.149 one who truly brings the peace. But you see the 00:14:40.149 --> 00:14:44.389 tone shifts like it so often does. Matthew 3 00:14:44.389 --> 00:14:47.330 moves from a warm invitation to a sharp warning. 00:14:48.330 --> 00:14:50.769 John says the axe is already at the root of the 00:14:50.769 --> 00:14:55.490 trees. Why does it have to get so sharp? Because 00:14:55.490 --> 00:14:58.350 false peace must be cut down before true peace 00:14:58.350 --> 00:15:02.350 can grow. False peace says everything's fine. 00:15:03.149 --> 00:15:06.429 I'm not a problem. If everyone else would change, 00:15:06.590 --> 00:15:10.769 then I would be happy. But you see, false peace 00:15:10.769 --> 00:15:15.029 is denial dressed as serenity. Calm built on 00:15:15.029 --> 00:15:18.370 avoidance. The illusion that we can keep everything 00:15:18.370 --> 00:15:20.370 the same and still experience God's kingdom. 00:15:21.149 --> 00:15:23.889 But you see, the true peace that Isaiah is bringing 00:15:23.889 --> 00:15:29.629 says, Lord, start with me, even if it burns. 00:15:30.789 --> 00:15:34.049 Prepare my heart. Cut down what is dead in me 00:15:34.049 --> 00:15:38.429 so something alive can grow. See, this is the 00:15:38.429 --> 00:15:40.950 collision here that the shoot growing out of 00:15:40.950 --> 00:15:44.549 the stump and the axe at the root of the tree 00:15:44.549 --> 00:15:48.750 have to go together. Because to bring real peace, 00:15:49.179 --> 00:15:53.500 God often begins by cutting away the dead, the 00:15:53.500 --> 00:15:56.659 diseased, and the deceptive expectations that 00:15:56.659 --> 00:15:59.940 we have leaned on, because we cannot get the 00:15:59.940 --> 00:16:04.080 new shoot without letting the old tree fall. 00:16:05.240 --> 00:16:09.519 See, now we move, though, to the center of Advent, 00:16:10.899 --> 00:16:14.000 because Jesus is fulfilling the vision of Isaiah, 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:17.700 a peace that the world has never known. Peace 00:16:17.700 --> 00:16:20.679 that's not through force, but through compassion. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:23.580 It's not through victory, but through vulnerability. 00:16:24.460 --> 00:16:26.740 It's not through domination, but through righteousness. 00:16:27.659 --> 00:16:30.419 It's not because of a throne, but because of 00:16:30.419 --> 00:16:34.080 a manger. You see Jesus being the shoot from 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:37.019 the stump. He is the new David who is not in 00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:41.879 armor. He's in swaddling clothes. His strength 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:46.440 is in gentleness. His authority is in love. But 00:16:46.440 --> 00:16:48.279 maybe this is the deeper issue for us. Maybe 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:51.639 we expect too little from God It's too simple. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:54.039 It's too straightforward. Maybe we're just expecting 00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:59.139 the wrong things or maybe Peace is moving in 00:16:59.139 --> 00:17:02.639 the wrong direction We expect it to be from the 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:05.740 outside moving in instead of the inside moving 00:17:05.740 --> 00:17:10.400 out See we expect a Savior who often fits our 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:14.579 preferences instead of transforming them Jesus 00:17:14.579 --> 00:17:19.220 though He confronts our expectations. The real 00:17:19.220 --> 00:17:21.700 Messiah presents a peace that doesn't bow to 00:17:21.700 --> 00:17:26.019 our assumptions, but redefines them. You see, 00:17:26.339 --> 00:17:28.980 Advent, it's not just about waiting. It's about 00:17:28.980 --> 00:17:32.460 preparing. This season is not just waiting for 00:17:32.460 --> 00:17:37.660 Christmas. This season is that we need to prepare. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:41.700 If John the Baptist prepared people for Christ's 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:45.220 first coming, then we... are called to prepare 00:17:45.220 --> 00:17:48.279 people for his presence now, and that he's coming 00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:55.400 again. We do not, however, we do not prepare 00:17:55.400 --> 00:17:58.640 people for a Jesus that fits whatever politics 00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:02.119 we like. We do not prepare people for a Jesus 00:18:02.119 --> 00:18:05.900 who protects us and feel comfortable. We do not 00:18:05.900 --> 00:18:08.460 prepare people for Jesus that never confronts 00:18:08.460 --> 00:18:11.880 us and never disagrees with us. He is not just 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:15.319 the really nice looking guy sitting at the campfire 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:19.460 waiting to sing Kumbaya. Because that would be 00:18:19.460 --> 00:18:24.579 false, safe, expected. Instead we prepare people 00:18:24.579 --> 00:18:27.680 for the Jesus who grows peace out of places that 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:31.880 looked dead. Restores what sin has damaged. Brings 00:18:31.880 --> 00:18:35.799 justice to the poor and burdened. heals creation 00:18:35.799 --> 00:18:39.839 itself, challenges every false anchor that we 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:44.039 cling to. You see, we prepare people for the 00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:48.740 unexpected Jesus, the Jesus who brings true peace, 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:52.799 not the peace that we invent inside. So this 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:56.359 is why the baptism of Jesus had to be different 00:18:56.359 --> 00:19:00.099 from the baptism of John, because John's baptism 00:19:00.099 --> 00:19:03.480 asked, have you repented enough to enter the 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:07.519 water? But Jesus baptism says something very 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:10.839 different You belong to me because my father 00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:14.140 has claimed you Peace is not achieved through 00:19:14.140 --> 00:19:17.720 your effort. It is received because of my presence 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:20.759 You see the Prince of Peace is not waiting for 00:19:20.759 --> 00:19:25.160 us to prove ourselves He comes to us. He claims 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:30.730 us Restores us and sends us out So what do we 00:19:30.730 --> 00:19:33.869 need to hear as we are closing today's Advent 00:19:33.869 --> 00:19:37.430 message? The same voice that echoed in the wilderness 00:19:37.430 --> 00:19:40.890 in a world chasing the shallowness of the peace 00:19:40.890 --> 00:19:44.009 we want in a culture that's anchored by Pharisees 00:19:44.009 --> 00:19:47.690 and Rome God still sends a voice that says prepare 00:19:47.690 --> 00:19:51.730 the way of the Lord make his path straight Because 00:19:51.730 --> 00:19:55.789 the peace that's coming the peace born in Bethlehem 00:19:55.789 --> 00:19:59.140 promised in Isaiah proclaimed by John It's better 00:19:59.140 --> 00:20:02.259 than what we expect. It's more surprising than 00:20:02.259 --> 00:20:04.900 what we ask for. It's more beautiful than what 00:20:04.900 --> 00:20:08.319 we imagine, no matter how hard it may be to get 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:12.680 there. So come Lord Jesus, bring your peace, 00:20:13.559 --> 00:20:17.880 not the peace we wanted, all to ourselves. Thanks 00:20:17.880 --> 00:20:18.400 be to God.