December 11, 2005

Advent 3

How well do you know the following people and organizations?  Jack Tinker and Partners.  BBDO.  Foote, Cone, and Belding.  J. Walter Thompson.  Ogilvy and Mather. N.W. Ayer.  McCann - Erickson.   Did you know any of these names?  No?  If not, then the ones on the list are pleased.  Advertising agencies don’t exist to make a name for themselves.  They exist to make a name for others.  While you may not be acquainted with the companies, aren’t you familiar with their work?

“Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is.”  That is the work of Jack Tinker and Partners for Alka-Seltzer in 1976.  “Have it Your Way” You’ve heard that before, right?  BBDO came up with that for Burger King in 1973.  While you’ve never heard of Foote, Cone, and Belding, have you ever heard this motto: “When you care enough to send the very best”?  Hallmark began using the line in 1934.  You don’t hum the name of J. Walter Thompson, but have you hummed the jingle his agency wrote for Kellogg’s “Snap! Crackle! Pop!” Rice Krispies?  (taken from Max Lucado: It’s Not About Me).  And if you have used the phrase, “Don’t leave Home Without It,” you may have to credit Ogilvy and Mather for coming up with that one for American Express in 1975.   The black and white DeBeers commercials telling us “A Diamond is Forever”?  N.W. Ayer did that in 1948.  And Canadians, remember this one?  “Put a Tiger in your Tank”  Esso gas station signs with the tiger sitting on top of the car?  McCann –Erickson created that ad in 1964.

The sound of these messages are still being heard today.  In your heads and hearts.  You remember them, and because of that, you know something good about the companies they tell us about.  But you’ve probably never heard the names of the advertising agents.  And that isn’t important.  It was their clear message that was important.

John the Baptist, the Voice in the wilderness, the Advent Messenger, the Forerunner of the Messiah, had a similar role.  It wasn’t to point to himself.  It was to point to the One he was working for.  The One who really mattered.  It was to prepare people for the Coming One.  It was to deliver a clear message that would be remembered in the hearts of the people about the awesome wonder of the coming Son of God.  Whether or not anyone knew who John was wasn’t important.  What was important was that they knew who Jesus was.

The sound of John’s message was clearly heard in that day, as he proclaimed the coming of the Messiah.  The sound of his message is still heard today – so he did his job well!  His message still lives in our heads and hearts.  The sound of his message is still being heard as Christians proclaim the message of repentance and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  And the wilderness in which the voice of the gospel rings out today is our sin-darkened world.

We can learn a lesson here.  As heaven’s advertising agency, we are here to promote God.  So was John the Baptist.  His sole purpose was to point to Jesus. Not himself. The question that was constantly asked of John was “Who are YOU?”  “What is this all about?”  But John showed them they were asking the wrong questions.  The real question is “Who Is It About?

Who is Christmas all about?  Who is Advent all about?  What was all this noise John was making in the wilderness all about?  All this crying to repent?  To get ready?  He was attracting huge crowds!  People were fascinated with him!  It must have been tempting to take a little credit.  To let people praise him a bit.  But not John.  He made it very clear who this was about.

It was about the One coming after him.  The Light coming into the world.  The Messiah.  Jesus.  John was very clear it wasn’t about him.  He was simply called to be a witness to the light.  To reflect Jesus’ light.  To point people to Him!  God, in his awesome love, caused his Light to appear in the midst of a sin-darkened world in the person of his Son, Jesus the Saviour.  John’s message was simply this: “Don’t miss Him!”  His ad slogan?  Verse 29: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

John strongly rejected any notion that he might be anything more than a man pointing people to his Lord.  He humbly admitted that he wasn’t even worthy to untie Jesus’ sandals.  The untying and carrying of sandals was the duty of a slave in those days, a task of the lowest kind.  John understood that he was the humble servant of his Lord Jesus.  Who is it about?

That’s an important question for us, especially at this time of the year.  Who is it about?  Who is Christmas all about?  Who is Advent about?  It’s about JESUS, isn’t it?  Like John, our role as Christians is to prepare the way for the Lord and point to Him, not to ourselves.  So let’s ask ourselves:  Is that what we’re doing?  As you do all the things you do at this season of the year, are you pointing people to Jesus?  Or to yourself?  As you do your deeds of good will, are you doing that to point people to Jesus?  Or to how much good will is in your heart?  When you place that extra Christmas offering in the plate, are you hoping it will help point more people to Jesus, or point more people to your generosity?  When you help out that family, is your true hope to point them to the love of the Savior, or to see what a wonderful person you are?

Who is it about?  It’s about Jesus!  I know you know that.  And I know that is where these good things you do come from.  But do you see that temptation the devil puts in our hearts?  We know It’s Not About Me.  But don’t we want it to be about me?  Don’t you want people to like the presents you give them, and love you more because of them?  Don’t you want people to enjoy your parties and think more dearly of you because of them?  Sure we do!  But shouldn’t we remember the more important thing?  Shouldn’t we remember who it is all really about?  Shouldn’t we be more concerned that we are pointing them to Jesus?  Shouldn’t we hope that every gift we give and party we host is an expression of love that may not make us great in the eyes of others, but will make JESUS great in their eyes?  Isn’t it, shouldn’t it be… about Him?

Yes.  But we have to answer the why.  Why do we want to point to Jesus?  Why is it all about Him?  Well, that is answered right in John the Baptist’s message: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  In a nutshell, that’s it.  Jesus came to take your sins away.  You and I have failed so much in making it be about ourselves instead of making it be about God.  We have pointed to ourselves so often instead of pointing to Jesus.  But the Christmas message is that you are forgiven!  There is peace between you and God!

And when you let the light of that message shine in your life, when you point others to Jesus as the One who should get all their glory and honour, then you are part of the huge advertising agency working to make a name for Christ.  Then you are joining John the Baptist on his mission to point people to Jesus!  And that message is still ringing clearly today where God’s Word is being spread.  Where his love is being shared.  Where his light is being shined.  Where people are repenting of their failures and trusting in God’s undeserved love through Jesus.  Because that is who it is about!

The billboards are up!  The signs are out!  The commercials are playing!  One final loving message for you this Advent:  Don’t miss them.  As you and I are so busy pointing everyone else to the coming Saviour, let’s not miss the baby in the manger ourselves…

For 51 years, Bob Edens was blind.  He couldn’t see a thing.  His world was a dark hall of sounds and smells.  He felt his way through 5 decades of darkness.  And then, he could see!  A skilled surgeon performed a complicated operation, and for the first time, Bob Edens had sight.  It overwhelmed him. “I never would have dreamed that yellow is so…yellow,” he exclaimed.  “I don’t have the words.  I am amazed by yellow.  But red is my favorite color.  I just can’t believe red.  I can see the shape of the moon – and I like nothing better than seeing a jet plane flying across the sky leaving a vapor trail.  And of course, sunrises and sunsets.  And at night I look at the stars in the sky and the flashing light.  You could never know how wonderful everything is.” 

He’s right.  Those of us who have lived a lifetime with vision can’t know how wonderful it must be to be given sight.  But Bob Edens isn’t the only one who has spent a lifetime near something without seeing it.  There are few people who don’t suffer from some form of blindness.  Amazing, isn’t it?  We can live next to something for a lifetime, but unless we take time to focus on it, it doesn’t become a part of our life.  Unless we somehow have our blindness lifted, our world is nothing but a dark cave.  (taken from Max Lucado – God Came Near)

Have you seen Him?  Have you caught a glimpse of the Almighty?  Imagine how busy Bethlehem was on the night all the travelers were coming to it because of the census.  The city was humming.  Crowded.  Busy.  The merchants and visitors were unaware that God has just visited their planet.  The innkeeper would never believe that he had just sent God into the cold.  And the people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village!   They were all too busy to consider the possibility.  Those who missed His Majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking.  They ignored the signs.  Little has changed in the last 2000 years, has it? (God Came Near)

But some saw the signs that night.  The shepherds did.  And it was a good thing for them, wasn’t it?  Good thing the shepherds listened to the angels instead of running from them.  Because of that, they got to hear Who It Was All About.  They got to hear the news: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you – He is Christ, the Lord.”  I hope we will do what the shepherds did – go to the manger.  I hope this season we will keep in our hearts and minds the answer to the question: Who Is It About?  It’s about Jesus Christ.  The One who entered our world!   Amen.

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