Perspectives in the Wilderness

[00:00:00] In the name of jesus, amen. [00:00:06] Jesus asked the question in the gospel reading today, what did you go out to see? [00:00:13] And then you could extend the question and say, what did you see? [00:00:18] He's holding before their eyes John the Baptist. [00:00:22] And so if we think back to that was last week, wasn't it? [00:00:27] The image of John the Baptist, he's out there in the wilderness and he's not in king's attire, he's not wearing soft clothing, he's, well, he's just not much to look at. He's not dining like a king. He's, well, in an uninteresting place, unless you're out to see the beauty of the desert. But he's out there living in a cave. [00:00:53] He's hard to find maybe. I mean, they know where to find him. But he's down by the Jordan river and that's well a 20 minute drive down through wilderness today, but much longer walk back then. [00:01:10] So if he were grand and majestic, if he were something, something to see, maybe he'd just be in the city and people would come to him. [00:01:23] But he's a different kind of thing to see. [00:01:25] He's out away from people. He's wearing camel's hair and eating locusts and honey off by himself. [00:01:35] But people go out to see him. [00:01:40] He doesn't present a grand picture. His message is pretty simple. [00:01:45] Repent, you brood of vipers. [00:01:53] Not much to listen to maybe, but Jesus says, okay, did you go out to see a reed shaken by the wind? [00:02:02] No. He's the greatest of the prophets. [00:02:06] What looks weak, kind of hidden over there is actually great and grand worth listening to. But nothing compared to the kingdom of heaven. [00:02:22] Even John in all his hidden glory is, well, nothing compared to the glory that's to be revealed to us. [00:02:33] Paul says. [00:02:38] Jesus is assuming that they don't have the proper perspective, and so he's putting things in perspective for them, just like John the Baptist was. John the Baptist's job was to change their perspective. [00:02:53] They come to him and he tells them, repent. Turn your mindset around, get it together, because the king's coming. [00:03:04] You and I need a perspective change every day our whole life long because we are blinded by sin. [00:03:14] The Old Testament reading has all kinds of words of hope, but here are a few of them. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. [00:03:28] I want to consider this on a spiritual level for a moment because just like this text isn't actually saying, one day there will be no more deserts. They're going to be green. [00:03:40] The goal isn't just, okay, great, the landscape is going to change. The same thing with this. [00:03:46] It's not just that those who are physically blind will receive their sight or that the deaf will be deaf no more, although certainly in the Resurrection that's true. [00:04:02] All of this is on a spiritual level. [00:04:05] Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. [00:04:09] We have been blinded by sin so that we don't see things as God sees them. [00:04:17] The ears of the deaf unstopped. [00:04:20] We are unreceptive to Jesus words much of the time, except as the Spirit gives us ears to hear. Jesus says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Lord, give us ears to hear. [00:04:33] Then shall the lame man leap like a deer. [00:04:37] We who have been blinded by sin and made unreceptive to God's word through sin that has destroyed our nature, we are paralyzed by it, unable to do the good that maybe we even want to do. [00:04:58] And the tongue of the mute sing for joy. [00:05:02] God's word doesn't spring to our lips in every moment. [00:05:07] Praise and thanksgiving don't spring to our lips in every moment because we've been so messed up by sin. [00:05:16] The promise is that this will be reversed, that the eyes of the blind will be opened, will be given spiritual perspective and the ears of the deaf unstopped, so that God's word can just come in and do what it will. [00:05:32] And the lame man shall leap like a deer, leap into action, embodying God's word. [00:05:38] And the tongue of the mute sing for joy, like Pastor Hesse. [00:05:47] So we'll be in the grocery store preaching God's word, and in our homes and in our workplace, unable to stop thanking God for his gifts, repeating God's word spoken to us. [00:06:11] So let's talk spiritual perspective. [00:06:14] John the Baptist is out there in the desert. [00:06:17] I think one reason he's out there in the desert is because there's nothing out there. And why would you go there anyway? [00:06:27] What did they go out in the desert for? They had it all in the city. [00:06:31] They had their groceries and their friends. People to talk to, people to learn from. [00:06:37] There's plenty in the city. For them, going out to the desert was like a retreat. [00:06:43] Everything else goes away. [00:06:45] And for a moment you get to focus. You go on a men's retreat or a women's retreat or something like that, and everything else is cleared away so that you can hear God's word and see things differently. You go up in the mountains to camp. And all of a sudden things. [00:07:03] I don't know, maybe you get different perspective. I do. You look up at the clouds for once, you know, and you just think, okay, so John's out there in the wilderness and the people are coming to him on a pilgrimage. They're coming on a life changing, transformational journey to receive new perspective. [00:07:23] And not just from the desert landscape as they walk, but they're going out to learn from John the Baptist what the wilderness is. [00:07:35] They go and they're alone with their thoughts as they travel. And then alone with this basically desert monk who's living in a cave to be shown just what a spiritual desert they are, just how blind and deaf and lame and mute they have become through sin and its consequences. [00:08:04] That's us. [00:08:09] It's easy to miss sometimes though, because while they're in the city, while we're in the city, in our busy lives, all the things going on, all the things to do, all those things that seem important, seem worth worrying about, stressing over, getting angry about whatever it is. [00:08:30] In the midst of the hustle and bustle, our perspective becomes tunnel vision so that we're focused on this little leaf and trying to make it grow and drop a water here. [00:08:46] But if we zoomed out, it's like this little piece of a shrub in the desert. [00:08:54] We need to repent. [00:08:57] We have nothing of ourselves apart from Christ. [00:09:01] And yet I run about my day thinking that I can do it without him. [00:09:09] But do you feel the wilderness? [00:09:12] I feel the wilderness from time to time, whether it's through restlessness or despair, moment to moment. [00:09:25] And then where do you go for water and growth? Where do you go to try and spruce it up and get something encouraging or living to? Where do you run the news to see if the economy is changing or policies will be different or if politics are showing any sign of your or just to distract you, you got entertainment or some moments, peace. [00:10:00] What do you run to when you feel the wilderness coming on? [00:10:07] And then what's the water in the wilderness? [00:10:10] You know from. [00:10:12] One way to tell our story is that we are mortal and we don't like it. [00:10:19] We suffer and we don't like it. And so we spend our resources and our time trying to overcome those problems, to make our housing situation a little bit better or to, well, invent things to improve healthcare and to delay death and all of those kinds of things. [00:10:42] Is that the desert? [00:10:44] Is that the wilderness? [00:10:47] Adam and Eve in the beginning reached out for wisdom and something tasty to eat and something that Looked interesting. [00:11:01] They were trying to save themselves from the wilderness in front of them, which was an illusion. [00:11:09] Like they sensed that they lacked something and they wanted more. [00:11:15] But the paradise was right in front of them. It was received through God's word. It was to live in God's presence and to hear from him and to be informed by him what their life is about and what's truly worth living for. [00:11:31] And that's the same today for you and me. [00:11:35] As the wilderness comes and we begin to get restless, to feel need, run to the Lord in prayer. [00:11:48] Prayer that's open to receiving what he has to say. Run to His Word. Whether opening a Bible or going to church, or remembering a Bible verse or maybe just remembering what you memorized in confirmation. [00:12:03] And then don't let it just be for a moment, but hold onto it, meditate on it. [00:12:13] Be like the farmer and wait, be patient. [00:12:21] I was talking with teachers about this this week. You know, it was like the farmer who waits and watches the clouds. [00:12:30] I just had a realization in that moment that I had had a conversation with some of you farmers on Wednesday night. [00:12:40] And I was thinking, in 30 years, who's going to look at the clouds? [00:12:52] Who's going to wait? Who's going to be patient? [00:12:56] We've only had iPhones for like 20 years, you know, going into a faster and faster paced world and to pray and to look to God and His word, to meditate on His Word and receive the paradise that he grows through the refreshing waters. [00:13:18] It requires loose soil, something that can receive it. [00:13:26] Wait. When you feel the wilderness, look to the Lord. [00:13:36] Remember the source of life and where that life comes from. And let God's word refresh you. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and, and rejoice with joy and singing. [00:13:55] This is a promise about Jesus Christ and his coming, which is why we have it here in Advent, because in the wilderness, which John was kind of acting out, out there in the wilderness, to the wilderness came Jesus, the source of water, the source of the water of life. [00:14:21] And the thing is, it's no longer a prophecy about the future. [00:14:28] This was fulfilled. [00:14:30] Jesus came and when he was crucified, water poured from his side. And he said, if anyone believes in me, out of his heart, there will be springs of water. [00:14:44] Jesus said, this is life to know God and Jesus Christ, who He sent. [00:14:51] Basically, in John 17, life has come and life has come to you. You've been washed in the waters of Baptism. If you've been baptized and baptized into Jesus Christ, united to him, the source of life, you've got the living waters. [00:15:08] If you're thirsty, come to him and drink. [00:15:11] There it is. [00:15:15] You know, the world from a certain perspective seems to be getting worse and worse. And if you zoom out, it's always been bad, you know, like really bad. Sometimes some of the things that we think are the most twisted, you know, well, they've been that twisted before in societies. [00:15:41] It seems like a really terrible wilderness sometimes. [00:15:46] But don't miss the blossoming crocus in the middle of the wilderness. [00:15:52] You have it in your brothers and sisters in Christ. [00:15:58] You have it in church when you come and you unite your hearts together. [00:16:03] When we lift up one heart and speak with one voice, God's word and praise him and give thanks. [00:16:12] When somebody prays for you through faith in Jesus Christ. [00:16:19] There it is. [00:16:21] When you see somebody going through loss or suffering, but giving thanks to God through Jesus Christ for his promises and trusting in him. There it is. [00:16:35] There you see the blossoming crocus in the middle of the wilderness. [00:16:41] You see the desert rejoicing and blossoming abundantly. [00:16:47] It's right here. [00:16:51] It's not the hope just of our physical ailments and sufferings being overcome that is coming. [00:17:00] There's a day when the restlessness and the difficulties will come to an end. [00:17:08] But our hope is more than that. [00:17:12] Our hope is in an inheritance that's heavenly. [00:17:18] Our hope is in these kinds of blossoms. [00:17:24] Love and joy and peace and patience and goodness and kindness and faithfulness and gentleness and self control. [00:17:32] Those kinds of things that are integral to human flourishing that Jesus Christ himself embodies most perfectly. Right? Like the perfect man. That's why we sing Beautiful Savior when we sing Beautiful Savior. Next. Not next after this, but another time. [00:17:56] Think about the blossoming crocus in the wilderness. Beautiful Savior. He's more worthy of our attention. [00:18:02] He doesn't compare to anything else in beauty. But it's not the beauty of soft clothing or something that seems really impressive to the world. [00:18:15] It's the beauty of his sacrifice on the cross, of his suffering and death and pouring himself out of the love and the patience and the peace and the faithfulness and the gentleness and the self control and all of that that he displays on the cross for you and for me, despite our being entirely unworthy of it. [00:18:41] And that's the same pattern as your brother or sister in Christ who shows Christ to you, Christ living in them. [00:18:48] And you see it there, that blossom in the wilderness. [00:18:56] We have everything to hope for. Jesus Christ has all of that and has shown you and me what's truly beautiful. [00:19:10] And he promises to give that to you, but not in a way where your problems go away or you no longer feel the wilderness. [00:19:27] He gives it to you in the midst of the wilderness, and you can see it with faith. [00:19:37] That's the gift he gives. He opens the eyes of the blind so that now you see it. [00:19:44] It's the same. I was talking with somebody very recently who was talking just kind of despairingly about. [00:19:54] About our world, like, how can we have hope in the world? How can we do hopeful things like have children In a world like this, it's easy to be very fearful and doubtful and despairing, given the circumstances. [00:20:15] Lord, give us the eyes to see what's happening all around us, to see the desert blossoming. [00:20:23] We can only see it by faith. Open our blind eyes and unstop our deaf ears. [00:20:30] Take this paralyzed lame body and give me strength. Inspire in me the embodiment of your word and make this mute tongue sing for joy. [00:20:52] Let's sing for joy. Let's sing it out. That last hymn was a little unfamiliar, wasn't it? Was it? [00:20:58] To me, it just feels like a classic, you know, but so that makes sense. But, you know, got more hymns coming up and we'll just sing it out. But what we're doing is singing in faith. [00:21:13] We're singing God's word back to him and to one another. [00:21:17] But it's not just this kind of singing that we're talking about. [00:21:23] It's when you go home with spiritual perspective as you look to Christ and with unstopped ears, ready to hear God's word even after you go home. [00:21:36] And then you hear your spouse or your friend or your child or your mother or father speaking. And you think with spiritual perspective, you look to Christ and hear from Him. [00:21:53] And then by his grace, he unlocks your limbs to serve him and gives you lips to sing his praise, to speak his word to one another. Whether it's I forgive you, or I'm sorry, forgive me, or encouragement, or maybe a hard word that they need to hear. [00:22:28] But that's how the wilderness blossoms. It's through God's word, through Jesus Christ, who comes to dwell in us and to work through us and in us and to redeem us and to give us everything that he has by his grace. In Jesus name, amen.