A (6:50)

All right. Pretty powerful stuff today, my friends. We're talking about God and his restoration. And when we think about the nation of Israel and we think about God's people, it's not hard to see that they needed to be restored. They had fallen into apostasy so many times, hadn't they? They had given up their relationship with God. They've gone after false gods. They had fulfilled not the covenant God made with them, but they had violated it. And yet God's plan was to restore them. In many ways, the imagery that we see in the Old Testament is of a nation that is ruined, a dead people. Think about Ezekiel and the dry bones and what we saw in our first reading today, we where we see that there is going to be this incredible restoration. And really that's what Advent is all about, isn't it? It's seeing the glory of God. Even when we're in a wilderness with dry land, the desert shall rejoice and blossom. I mean, that's really imagery of new life, of restoration. And to have hope in the midst of that is part of what we go through here when it comes to adventure. But we have to ask ourselves this. How does the Lord restore? What does he do? And do we recognize our need for restoration? I mean, you've seen what happens when people have something that needs to be restored, but they don't get it? I remember we moved into this house that we live in now. It's an older house built in, like, I think, the 50s or 60s. And when we were looking at it, we walked through it, and we were like, this has potential, but it really needed to be restored. It had really old appliances, nasty old carpet. A lot of things were. Hadn't been touched in years. And yet the people that we bought the house from had no idea. They were like, what are you talking about? You know, we were trying to negotiate with them to get the price down. We're like, yeah, well, we need to do some work in this kitchen. You know, this dishwasher's from 1964. And they're like, oh, it still works great. What are you talking about? Now, the truth is it probably works better than the one you buy brand new now. But we struggled with them because they didn't see the need for restoration. They just wanted to be done. Now we decided to buy the house anyway, and we. What did we do? We restored it. But sometimes you see people who. They don't recognize this need. They think everything's great. They look at their lives even, and they go, I'm fine. I'm good. See, the parallel here is that our lives, just like the nation of Israel, needed restoration. You and I need to be restored, too. But step one is recognizing that need. And if we're walking around with this mindset that says, nope, I'm good. Everything's fine. I don't need any help. I don't need any work, then where can we make room for that restoration? It's kind of like when someone. I don't know. One of the other shows I've watched over the years, there's this show called. I think it's called Bar Rescue. I can't remember the name of it or whatever. And it's about this guy, his name's John, and he goes into these restaurants, sort of like a Gordon Ramsay with the Kitchen Nightmares, where they go into these restaurants and they. The restaurants are dilapidated and falling apart. Or the bar. In the case of Bar Rescue, the businesses are way underwater. They're in debt, they're about to close, and they go in with the mindset of, all right, we need to come in here and fix this. And what always happens, and this is part of the. I guess the plot of the show is when Gordon Ramsay, or when John, meets with the owner of the restaurant, and they begin to tell them what they need to do in order to fix this place up. There's always this defensiveness. They always start off going, yeah, we need help. We could please do whatever you want. But then when they find out what needs to be done, their response is almost always, no, no, no, no. You can't change that. Especially when it gets to things like, hey, we want to change the name of the restaurant, or we want to change, like, the menu. We want to overhaul this whole thing because this is falling apart. And we've even seen some episodes where the guy says, nope, you're done. You guys get out of here. Even though they've admitted things are falling apart, it's one thing to admit that the place is falling apart and you got to start there. It's another thing to allow the restorer to come in and do the work. This is key, my friends. This is key. When it comes to our lives.

A (11:23)

God is showing us our need for restoration, but then he's ready to come and do the work. Are we willing to do the work, my friends? More than that, are we willing to let him do the work? Because that's where this comes down to, right? If it's just up to us, it's not going to happen, because otherwise it would have already happened. We have to allow him to do the work because it's work that we can't do ourselves. And when it happens, what we can be after restoration can be even better than before. That's what we saw in our first reading, you know. But we need a restorer. A home cannot restore itself. A restaurant cannot restore itself. Even a vintage Harley cannot restore itself. And neither can a soul. We can't do it on our own. My friends, if Advent to you is like this, huffing and puffing, you try to, you know, gird up your loins and make yourself holy, you're going to fall apart. Same with Lent. Same with any kind of spiritual exercise where we try to enter into these periods of reflection and then anticipation. It's not a call to self sufficiency, my friends. It's a call to. To invite Christ into this because that's what he's come to do. Now, what can happen is we look at our second reading, we can see what happens. What we need, we need to be patient, right? We need to be patient with this. That's what James says. Be patient. Therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and late rain. You also be patient, he said. What do you mean the work of restoration is not quick? And it requires patience? And sometimes we have to be reminded of that because we can become impatient with ourselves. We become impatient with God because we go, okay, I get it. I want to be better. I want to be free from my sin. I want to become more holy. Why isn't it happening right this second? We've got to, according to James, establish our hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Now, now, how does this play itself out, this patience? What is the fruit of impatience? Sometimes we have to look at. Like, patience is tricky because sometimes we look at this, we go, how do I get more patient? And then we can't do it. Sometimes what we have to do is just stop blocking patience from happening, because the more we establish our hearts in the Lord, the more patient we will be. Unless we block that. With what? With impatience? Well, duh. But how do we do that? Well, we see some clues here in what James said. He says, do not grumble, brethren, against one another, that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the doors as an example of suffering and patience, brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. So he's saying, look, if you want to let patience be born into your life, if you want that part of the restoration to happen and you don't want to be impatient, stop grumbling, stop complaining. Against who? Against one another? Yes, of course. And of course against God. Because grumbling and complaining is the quickest way to short circuit a restoration. Grumbling and complaining. When you see those shows where they restore and the guy comes in, you know, Gordon Ramsay or John comes in to restore, and the owner's like, oh, but, you know, I don't like that color. Or, my employees are the problem. They always say that on those shows. If they weren't doing it wrong, you know, if my business partner wasn't such an idiot, then we would have been. No, no, no. If you want to be restored, you have to completely take responsibility for that fact. You have to take responsibility for your need for restoration, not blame everybody else for the condition that you are in. And that's a big problem when it comes to our spirituality, isn't it? We always want to blame other people. We might say that we don't, but we do. We could say, oh, no, woe is me. I know. But the reality is, when we get down to that work, when it starts to take root and that work of restoration begins. What's the first part of restoration? Demolition Isn't it tearing away the old, that's dilapidated on its own, but it's got to be cleared out so that the new can come. Think about that in light of our gospel with John the Baptist. Okay, we'll get to that in a minute. That's a painful process, isn't it? Some people love demo, right? It's awesome. But not people who are really attached to what is being demolished. That's the key. If you go into a house and you have no stake in it, and you have never lived there, you didn't have anything to do with why it is the way it is. You just bought it, you go in. Demo is easy. You just walk in. I don't care about that thing that's on that wall, the little marks where the kids grew up. And we documented that. It doesn't matter. It's not me. But when it's our own thing, when we've built that, when we participated in that, when we have attachments to it, then when the restorer comes in to do the demolition, ooh, that can feel painful. Some of you know where I'm going with this. When it comes to our souls, guess what? We participated in that. It's dear to us and the parts of our lives where we typically need the most work.

A (16:32)

There's a correlation there to what's painful because those are the things that we've attached ourselves to. If not, we already would have done it. So when God is calling us to this demolition process so that we can be restored, there are going to be parts of that process where we really. We resist. That's what you got to pay attention to. Where are the areas of your life where God is trying to strip them away? And you're saying, oh, no, can we just keep that part? I know I need a new kitchen, but can I keep the cabinets? I really like them. No, it doesn't work that way. I remember we, you know, years ago, I worked in some construction with some guys, and me and my buddy were. We were renovating a house, and it was total gut job. We were gutting the inside to make a new floor plan. We had to take the walls down, we had to take all the drywall down, down to the studs. And the lady who owned the house, she kept barking at us to save the trim. Save the trim. You know, I don't know where that comes from, this idea. And that wasn't like, even beautiful trim. It wasn't like this ornate Victorian style trim. It was just the, you know, the typical.

A (17:42)

Beige, you know, cheap trim. That you buy at any home improvements. Nothing special about it at all. But she was so attached to this trim. Just save the trim. So we had to, like, be, you know, we wanted to just go in there with sledgehammers and knock the whole thing down and tear it out. We'd have been able to do it way faster, but she required us to go in there with pry bars and carefully pry the trim off and then pull the nails out and stack it nice and neat in the. In the outside shed. For what purpose? We knew that there was nothing good that was going to. Because we were going to be building new walls. The old trim wasn't going to fit in the new house anyway. It would have been dumb.

A (18:21)

But yet, for some reason, she was, like, resisting. So what did that end up doing? It ended up costing her more money. It ended up being a huge hassle for us. And in the end, guess what? None of that trim ever came back out of that shed. At least while we were there anyway. Because when we built the new walls and it got trimmed out, it got new trim. You're not going to put old trim on new walls again. This wasn't, like, beautiful Victorian stuff. This was garbage. And sometimes God is trying to get rid of the garbage that we have become attached to. And we're telling him, no, no, no, save that. No, no, no. I still want this. And God's saying, look, when you see the plan that I have for your life and what it's going to look like, there's no place in it for this old junk that you're attached to. So let me just do my work and trust me, get out of the way. Stop letting your attachments to your old junk get. Get in the way of the new thing I'm trying to build in your life.

A (19:17)

Friends, we got to be careful of that. Because what God is trying to do in us is so radical. It's not a redecoration. It's a complete restoration. And why do I say restoration versus, like, a complete, like, rebuilt? Because you were created good. When we're baptized, God, like, like, recreates us into his image, okay? And it's only because of our sinful attachments over time that have. That have put us in this place, need that restoration. And what God's trying to do in our lives continually is to restore us to that place that he put us in our baptism. Now, I know that. And that's what confession is all about. It's like, lord, forgive me for putting up that ugly thing on that wall of my Soul, he's like, tear it down. And Advent is the perfect time when we sort of walk through the whole place and go, all right, where does God need to do, like, a redo here? But we've got to get out of the way so he can do it. And grumbling and complaining about the process doesn't help us. So stop looking around at other people or other situations and blaming that or them for the work that God needs to do in your life. No, friends, we have to own that. And then we have to let ourselves be detached from it so that he has free reign to come in and do his work. And that's what patience is about. It's not easy. It hurts. It can be difficult. And that's why we're called to that patience, because impatience, what that really reveals in us is a lack of trust. And that's what we're going for. You've got to have complete trust in the restorer. You know, I've got a good buddy of mine who is incredible at this kind of stuff when it comes to homes and restoration. He's a home builder and he's a remodeler, and the guy's an incredible artist as well. And, you know, we had him do some work and I think just about every home that we've had almost, and in our photography studio. And I remember saying to him, look, dude, do your thing. Just do your thing. I'm not the expert. You're the expert when you're going to help me with my kitchen or help me with my studio or whatever. Like, I want your brain wrapped around this, not my lame ideas, you know, so got to trust. And when you find someone that you can put your faith in, you know, you've seen their work and, like, this guy's amazing, or this woman knows what she's doing or whatever, and you want to then get out of their way. And the only way you can do that is through trust. And that's what patience is all about. You can have patience when you have trust. So the question is, do you trust God? Do you trust the restorer and what he can do in your life? If you do, you'll get out of the way. That's so important. All right, let's look at our gospel and you'll see sort of how I've been leading up to this with this imagery of breaking away from the old and bringing in the new. Now, this question that John the Baptist is getting at is really interesting because you ask yourself, why is John sending his disciples to ask Jesus, are you the one, or should we look for another? Remember, John was the guy who was the first one to spot Jesus, right? As an adult, you know, I'm not talking about Mary and Joseph. I'm talking about other people. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John makes that connection, and yet now, after, even after other things have happened, he's in prison. And now that's pretty important, isn't it? We can't get into too much of his mind, but I wonder if there's a coincidence there. If John, sitting in prison, he's got a lot of time to think and a lot of time to reflect, and maybe he's going, hey, why am I here if my cousin is the Messiah? What's this all about? Did John question, did he doubt? You know, I can't pretend to know the answer to that in his mind, but what I think is interesting is Jesus response and what he says. He says to his disciples, go tell John what's happening, right? He says, go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor of good news preached to him. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me. That's the response that basically is saying what I've said earlier. Hey, restoration is happening. I'm at work, man. Look at my portfolio. Look at the work I've done. When you're interviewing a contractor to do a restoration process, you see the work he's done, you go, okay, I can trust this guy. What John was doing here, or what Jesus was doing here was reminding John, hey, look at the work that I'm doing here. You don't need to worry about it. Look at what I'm doing. You can trust me. Blessed is he who doesn't take offense at me, who looks at the work that I'm doing of restoration and says, okay, I get it. You can do whatever you want. That's what Jesus is saying. And then, you know, you might think, oh, well, was Jesus beating up on John or whatever? Well, no, because then look what he says after this. He goes on to talking about, of all the people born of women, you know, that none of them have been greater than John. That includes Moses. That includes Elijah. That includes Jeremiah, King David, all of them. Jesus holding up John, this crazy guy out in the wilderness. He's like, why are you guys all out here to see this crazy guy? No, let's talk about who he is. He's a prophet. More than a prophet. Jesus says, no one born of men is greater than John the Baptist. That's a lot of people, Elijah. Think about that. Samuel, all the great people who were born of women. And Jesus is holding up John even in the midst of what appear to be some doubts here. And Jesus is saying that he's so great. But don't miss what comes next. This is the key to everything. I love it. He says, but whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than him. What in the world is going on here? Now, you got to remember, he's not comparing, like, people to people. He's not saying, well, you know this scumbag guy who just makes it to heaven by the skin of his teeth. He's a better person than John. He's not talking about the people, remember? He. He's talking about the kingdoms. He's talking about the covenants. He's not comparing the people. He's comparing the covenant they belong to. What Jesus is saying here is remind. And we got to be reminded of this. John is an Old Testament prophet. You might go, wait a minute. He's in the gospel. What are you. Gospel is the New Testament. Everything before that's the Old Testament. Yes, but Jesus is still at this point in time. We're still under the old covenant here. And. And John was born into the old covenant. So John is the best of the old. And what Jesus is saying is even the worst of the new is better than the best of the old. This isn't about the person. This is about the covenant to which they belong to. And it's like this, the restoration that God wants to do. Even the worst house that had to be restored after the restorer is done with it, it's better than the best before restoration. Think about that. That's so important, isn't it? Even the guy who's best at the old isn't as good as the guy who's worst at the new. It's not about the guy. It's about the covenant. It's about the restorer's work being done in him. I mean, think about it like this. It's like a different category. The best black and white TV that has ever been created isn't as good as the worst HDTV today. Okay? The worst color tv, Even you could say the worst color TV that exists today, right now, is better than the best black and white TV that existed 50 years ago. All right? That's what we're talking about here. The old Covenant could only get you so far. And the New Covenant is infinitely better because the Old Covenant was revolving around the sacrificial aspect of blood and of goats and rams and lambs. The New Covenant is the perfect son of God in his blood. Friends, that's powerful. That's restoration. The Old Covenant can only get you so far. We need the new, we need the restoration, and we need the restorer. Once he comes, everything changes. And when we welcome him, we must let him do it his way. We can't armchair quarterback the restorer. We can't resist the restorer. We can't say, look, I know what you want to do, but let me show you my ideas. My buddy Dean, the home builder I was telling you about, you know, he would tell me stories of the amazing ideas that he had for people's homes until he met with, you know, the homeowner, who then said, well, here's what I want you to do, you know, and I know it's their house, but you need his work, friends. It's your soul. You can let him do whatever he wants. But I'll tell you this. If you give him half of your soul, then he'll work in half of your soul. If you give him all of it, he'll work in all of it. You don't want half. You don't want half a restoration. I mean, how dumb would that look? We've all seen that. You know, you've got a guy who.

A (28:10)

Works on his home, and he's like, oh, I'm redoing my kitchen. I've seen this a million times. A guy redoes a room in his house, but he doesn't put the trim up. You know, you walk in and you're like, oh, this is really nice. But then there's no trim on the walls, or he didn't put the doors on or whatever. And you're just like, well, this would be. Look, this would look great if it was actually finished. But some people, they just give up towards the end. You know, if you give up towards the beginning, you don't get very far. But if you give up toward the end, the full vision of what is supposed to be still isn't there. Friends, let's let God restore us completely. Let's stop armchair quarterbacking him. Let's stop grumbling and complaining. Let's stop even denying our need for that restoration. Let's stop going in there going, wait a minute. Yeah. I know you want to do your work in my life, this admin, but I really want to keep this part. This part's okay, right? That's up to him, not up to you. You know, sometimes he'll use things that are in the part of the old thing and he'll say, yeah, we're going to keep this vintage piece or whatever and do something cool with it. Other times he says, no, sorry, it's rotten, it's broken. It doesn't work anymore. It's in the way of what I want to do.

A (29:20)

Friends, think about it. What are you keeping in the way of what God's trying to do in your life? Israel had a lot of that kind of stuff. That's why Jesus had such harsh words for the Pharisees. It's like they didn't get it because they were trying to hang on to their way. And Jesus was coming, saying, look, let me show you my way. And that's why John was such a powerful figure, because John was truly like, look, the ax is at the root. Let's go, let's light this on fire. Let's remember that he's coming. Let's chop all this stuff down so that the Restorer can come and do his work. And what did they say to him? No, no, no, no, no. You're messing with us. You're messing with our power. Friends, let's understand what God's trying to do in our lives. This adventure. He's coming. What did James say? The Restorer is at hand. The coming of the Lord is at hand. What does he want to do in your life? And where have you been? Resisting, grumbling, complaining, blaming others, or hanging on to things. It's time to let that go, my friends. You do that. What you will become after God's done with you is beyond your wildest imagination. And we get glimpses of that here on Earth, don't we, when our lives get turned over to the Lord. And he does that good work in us. Remember, friends, he's the one who does the work. We just cooperate. We just allow it to happen and live into that.

A (30:45)

What do we need to do? That's what I want you to think about this week here as we continue to move through Advent. You know, we're getting closer to Christmas, and we need to be increasing our anticipation and our joy and our willingness to let the Restorer do his work. My friends, may that be true for each of us. Thank you so much for joining me here this week on Unpacking the Mask. I really hope this has been fruitful to you. If it has, please consider subscribing to this channel, maybe sharing the video with people. Do me a favor. Hit that, like, button. It really does help us out as we try to get unpacking the mass out to more and more people. Thank you so much, my friends. Take care and God bless you.