Leading Through Advent: Preparation to Lead - Part Two

During the season of Advent, you have the opportunity to become the leader God has created you to be. Being the leader needed at any given time is not easy. If you are not secure in who you are and how you are leading, you often try to overcompensate or micro-manage. Advent provides you the opportunity to examine your leadership and to change whatever you might need to change to be the leader needed for the people entrusted to your care.

So, as you are preparing to receive Jesus, keep in mind what you need to do to be the leader God has created you to be. What is crooked that needs to be straightened? What needs to be brought down and what needs to be lifted up? What rough places need to be smoothed out?

During this third week of Advent, Luke continues to offer direction in and through his story of John, the Son of Zechariah.

Read Luke 3:7-18

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ⁹Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?” ¹¹In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” ¹²Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” ¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

¹⁵As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with^[^b^] the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people.

Reflect on Luke 3

As we said in part one, Luke devotes the third chapter of his good news to preparing for the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. He places the coming of Jesus, the anointed one, in a particular time in world and religious history. His preciseness of history tells us that context is important to him. So, the setting of Luke’s good news is not a “once upon a time” context but is in real-world history. It tells us that Luke is attempting to bridge the gap between what has been and what is coming. He is laying the groundwork of putting Christ against Caesar, the Kingdom of God against the kingdom of Rome. (Read Leading Through Advent: Preparation to Lead Part One).

Produce Fruit Worthy of Repentance

In preparation for recognizing and receiving the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed One, John confronts the crowds with the urgent need to “produce fruit worthy of repentance.” He warns them that baptism without a change of lifestyle is worthless. He tells them that they can no longer rely on their heritage, for being children of Abraham, because this preparation for the Messiah does not depend upon them having the character of Abraham. His challenge is to produce genuine, fruit-bearing repentance which will be revealed in concrete ethical actions.

So, in response to his call to repentance, the people ask him the same question they asked Simon Peter on the day of Pentecost, “What, then, should we do?” John gives them clear direction: Be generous and share what you have. Be fair and honest. Don’t use your position to take advantage of people. And be satisfied with what you have.

Care for People

Underneath John’s teaching is a focus upon and care for people. So said another way, don’t use your position to take advantage of people. Treat others the way you want to be treated and be generous with the people around you.

When he says, “…bear fruits worthy of your repentance,” he is saying, “Live your life the way God intended for you to live. So, be yourself. Care for people as you have been cared for.” In other words, take advantage of the opportunity to be who God created you to be.

John modeled his teaching in such a way that people saw the anointed one in him. His teaching and action were so different from that of other teachers that the people thought he might be the Messiah.

So, in preparing for the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, John is calling people to turn from their old ways of thinking about relating to people and turn toward living as God has created them to live. It is in their turning that they will experience God’s promised messiah.

Respond to Luke 3

Tony Campolo tells the story of a pastor friend of his in California. He said she loved to go to Nordstrom department store in Bel Air during the Christmas season. She told him she couldn’t buy much but enjoyed going for the decorations and the live music.

On one of her visits, she said she was on the top floor of the store looking at some of the finest dresses in the world, when the elevator doors opened, and an out stepped woman clearly out of place. Her clothes were dirty, and her stockings were rolled down to her ankles. She just stood there holding a shopping bag in her right hand. The bag contained all her earthly possessions. It was obvious she was out of place. The dresses on that floor were in the thousand-dollar category, and this woman did not seem like the kind of person who would have that kind of money.

Campolo said his friend told him that she expected a security guard to promptly arrive and escort the woman out of the store. But instead of security guards, a well-dressed stately saleswoman came over to her and asked, “May I help you, madam?”

The woman said, “Yeah! I want to buy a dress.”

In a polite and dignified manner, the saleswoman asked, “What kind of dress?”

The woman answered, “A party dress!”

The saleswoman replied, “You have come to the right place. I think we have some of the finest party dresses in the world. Just follow me.”

The saleswoman then spent more than ten minutes matching dresses with the woman’s skin color and eye color. She did her best to match each dress with the woman’s complexion. After selecting three dresses, the saleswoman asked the woman to follow her into the dressing room.

The woman tried on the dresses with the saleswoman’s help. But then, after a few minutes, the woman said, “I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to buy a dress today.”

“That’s okay,” the saleswoman said gently. “But here is my card. Should you come back to Nordstrom department store, I do hope that you will ask for me. I would consider it such a privilege to wait on you again.”

What, then, should we do?

The saleswoman is an example of John’s response to those asking, “What, then, should we do? She was who she was created to be in caring for the woman. Even though she seemed out of place, she was treated with respect and dignity, with love and care.

Listen to John, “…the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” This is John’s way of saying that you have the opportunity to be who God has created you to be, whether as a human being or as a leader. What do you need to do to be the leader God needs you to be at this time in history?

Take notice of the people around you today? What needs to change for you to love and care for people the way God loves and cares for you?

It is in your preparation for the coming Messiah that you can keep in mind that who you are is how you lead.

Return

Give God thanks for the people you encountered today. Where did you meet Jesus? Who helped you experience a new way of living and leading? How did you express God’s love today? With whom do you need to celebrate the hope, the love, the new life you experienced? How will you prepare for God’s presence and power tomorrow? Ask God to give you the faith to be the leader God has created you to be.

Prayer

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie; above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above, while mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love. O morning stars together, proclaim the holy birth, and praises sing to God the King, and peace to all on earth!

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given; so, God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray, cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel. Amen