The Way: Sermon Luke 3:1-17

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

If you have traveled on Hwy. 64 from Pulaski to Lawrenceburg you have probably noticed something. I was traveling to Lawrenceburg a couple of weeks ago and I noticed that work was progressing on the expansion of 64 from two lanes to four. As I looked at the work being done I could not help but to think about all the thought, planning, preparation, construction, and maintenance it takes to keep our roads operable. The highways and byways are something that most of us take for granted and usually the only time we notice them is when they are in disrepair, full of potholes and cracks. My generation never knew a time without the Interstate System which allows speedy travel from city to city. Now it seems that there are never enough roadways to meet the number of cars on the road, especially this time of year. So, new roadways and the expansion of old roadways are being built all the time. One thing that must be done before the first earth moving machine is brought in is a path must be laid out. Now it would be really nice if all those paths could be straight shots from point A to point B. One could drive a little faster and you probably could put your car on automatic pilot and take a nap if the roadway were all straight. Some roadways are straight, in fact a plan was made in the Interstate system that there must be a straight stretch of road every so often on the Interstates. Why? So that military jets could use the Interstates as landing strips in case of emergencies. Unfortunately there are many twists and turns, especially in mountainous terrain, the landscape just doesn’t allow for it. But the engineers and workers filling gaps and cut into hillsides to make the roads as level and straight as possible.

Making straight paths is the topic for today’s sermon. The story begins with a description of the ministry of John the Baptist, who was the one that Isaiah wrote about saying that he will “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”. This prophecy spoke about a person who was to come before the Messiah in order to prepare the people for his coming. In those days before a king, queen, or some other royalty would make a stop in a town or village, a messenger was send ahead to make the announcement so that the people could prepare themselves and their town for the royal visit. They would make sure that everything was clean and decorated and that sometimes they would have a feast in celebration. So this is the mentality that the prophecy comes from. We have something similar today, if President Bush wants to make a visit the Secret Service would come ahead of time to make preparations for security and accommodations.

So John was the one chosen to make preparations for the coming Messiah, the coming King of kings. How does one make preparations for the Son of God? John does not prepare a grand feast or roll out the red carpet, although Jesus certainly would have been worthy of one. Instead John’s preparation was a proclamation, and that proclamation can be summed up in one word “Repent.” He prepared the way for Christ by letting the people know that they way things were going just weren’t going to cut it. He told the people that they were in need of a Savior. We don’t like to talk about the Law much anymore. We like to think that since we are covered in the grace of God that the Law of God does not apply to us, almost as if we are above the Law. John Wesley said that one purpose that the Law served was to let us know that we are in need of Christ and in this way the Law was not some oppressive statute, but was a grace of God. The Law is there and we have not kept the Law and even though we deserve judgment and punishment, God sends love and grace in the form of a Savior. What John was preaching was that we needed to turn away or turn back, that is what the word “repent” means, to turn back from sinful selfish ways. We need to turn back from selfishness and turn toward selflessness. We need to turn away from individualism and turn toward community. We need to turn away from isolation and turn toward a relationship with God. John prepared the way of Christ by saying that we need to turn towards Christ.

Repentance is not just about words. It is not simply saying, OOPS I am sorry for doing that, it won’t happen again. John told the people that they were a “brood of vipers” that is a powerful image. If you have ever seen Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark you might remember a scene where they uncover a big pit full of snakes, just crawling over the place, that is a brood of vipers, not a very pleasant thing to be called. John calls them this because they talk a good talk, but they have never walked the walk. We do that a lot don’t we. How many of us have said this? After the holidays, I am going on a diet and I am going to go to the gym and start walking in the mornings and I am going to get in shape, I have said that a bunch, but have never really followed through with it.

John told them to “Bear fruits worthy of repentance”, in other words “Don’t tell me you have changed, show me that change.” Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk. Then the people ask him, “How do we do this?” “What should we do?” Then John runs down several examples and each one has to do with the poor. I think the helping the poor is something that Church has forgotten about. The conservative Christian movement has boiled down all the social morality down to two topics, homosexuality and abortion. Now, these two topics are important don’t get me wrong, but the Bible speaks about the poor far more that it does on homosexuality or abortion. So, this makes me think that God wants us to focus far more on the poor than on these other topics.

Our primary focus should be on the poor. John tells the people that if they have two coats then they should give one to the poor. John Wesley had the same kind of notion about the poor. He said that if you have more food than what you needed and if you have more than ten dollars in your pocket then you were a sinful person. That is pretty extreme and I know that few people do that. However, just because we do not take to the extreme it does not mean that we should not do anything. If you have an old coat that doesn’t fit or you never wear, donate it to the Matthew Thrift Store in town. If you have an old blanket that is in good shape but you never use donate it to the Giles County Hope House. If you seen green beans or corn on sale at the market, buy a couple extra cans and give those to the Help Center, not just at Christmas but all year long. You can take your pocket change and give it to a worthy cause. This is a demonstration of repentance, you are saying through your actions that I am sorry that I have neglected the poor, but I am going to change my way of thinking and my way of living. John also talks to a tax collector and a solider both of whom had been cheating people out of money. Now, I don’t think any of us in this room are guilty of cheating people, I know that you are good upstanding people. However, we could all, and I definitely include myself in this, give a little more to help others in need.

John preached repentance and through his preaching, he prepared the way for Christ. We prepare ourselves for Christ through repentance. We turn from our old ways to the new way toward Christ, a way that is straight and level. John then talks about baptism. He said that as he baptized with water, the one that would come after would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Today our baptism is the same, we use water as a tangible symbol, but the real work is done by the Holy Spirit. Baptism reconnects us with God and begins a life long pursuit of sanctification that is we work our entire lives toward the God. We make mistakes for sure, but we learn from those mistakes and move forward, wiser and better than we were. Through baptism we become members of God’s community, it is the gift of the kingdom of God. However, with this gift comes responsibility. We must become the Johns for this generation; we must prepare the way for Christ’s return. We do this by living our repentance and through that living we can show others their need for repentance. We can help the poor and help our neighbors, not just as Christmas time, but all year long. We prepare the way of the Christ, but loving God and loving our neighbor.

Last week I said that Advent is about preparation as well as anticipation. We prepare ourselves to worship the Christ child. We remember and celebrate is birth, but we also remember that being a Christian is more than just saying you are a Christian, it is about living out our faith.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.