Advent: What Is Growing in Your Life?

And just like that abandoned lot in Hawaiian gardens, at first glance, it might seem benign. It might seem empty. It might seem lifeless and wasteful. But underground things are happening where we can't see it, where the sun doesn't even penetrate. Weeds are spreading. Roots are forming. And the real question wasn't what does the garden look like? It's what is the garden growing? [00:27:22] (27 seconds)  #HiddenRootsWork

Advent isn't all candles and carols. The story of Advent begins in a wilderness. It begins in the darkness. It begins in the silence. And the path takes us through a landscape where there are dragons and monsters and thorns and weeds and death and dying. Crazy men shouting in the wilderness, repent, repent. Prepare the way of the Lord. [00:28:37] (29 seconds)  #AdventPrepareTheWay

We take off the old self and put on the new self. We take off the old clothing and put on the new clothing. The old has to die before the new can come to life. That's always the pattern in the scriptures. If we just keep trying to put on something new over the top of what's always been there, we end up looking like a kindergartner in grade school going out in winter clothing, right? And they have so many layers on it, they can't even bend their elbows or knees anymore. Death always comes before resurrection. [00:32:01] (33 seconds)  #PutOnTheNewSelf

The people of God will fill the world with the blessings of God.God. That's the move from a seed, to a shoot, to a vine, to a fruit, to a harvest, to a blessing. Last week, the Messiah was a single green shoot coming out of a dead stump. And this week, the people of God are a vineyard, bringing the blessings of God's gifts to the whole world. [00:33:56] (30 seconds)  #VineyardOfBlessing

Why is He repeating it? For emphasis, yes. But it's a description of God's longing for peace. God is not a God of destruction and anger and vengeance. He's a God of flourishing and blessing. And He's saying, come and experience the blessing that I have for you. All of these are promises of peace. A picture of shalom. Remember last week we said that shalom in the scriptures. The word in Hebrew, shalom, is translated as peace. But it doesn't just simply mean the absence of conflict. Nobody's fighting right now so we have peace. Shalom means the presence of holiness. [00:35:31] (50 seconds)  #ShalomMeansHoliness

It means the presence of flourishing and harmony and growing. Everybody is experiencing the bounty of God's goodness. And this is what happens when God tends the garden. What grows in us becomes a blessing for the whole world. Not just for me. Faithfulness springs from the ground. The righteousness rains down from heaven. And the whole world becomes fertile again. Shalom. That's peace. That's the promise of heaven. [00:36:21] (33 seconds)  #ShalomFlourishing

And that's what God wants his people to be. A garden of peace. A place that stands out as life and gift in a world filled with weeds. So what will your life grow? What are you growing in your life? Isaiah ends there with a stark contrast. Are we becoming a flourishing vineyard, rooted, tended, fruitful, and a blessing to others? Or are we becoming just a tangle of prickly weeds, anger, resentment, despair? [00:37:20] (40 seconds)  #WhatWillYourLifeGrow

And so Advent confronts us with the gardener's question. In the dark, what is your life growing? Will you cling to God like a vine clinging to a trellis? Will you let God pull up the weeds that choke out new life in you? Will you let him prove what harms you and hold you back? Will you let him plant something new in you? Maybe something that you have long ago dismissed, but something that God is doing in you that will bless the world. [00:38:33] (39 seconds)  #LetGodPlantInYou