Sermon Text: Luke 3: 1-6
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—
2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’ ”
Morning Message:
Advent is a season of light! I always find it interesting how God in so many ways used the Jewish faith to illustrate to Christians and Jewish people the connection between the two faiths. We must understand that there is only one way back to God, through Jesus, but we must also understand the roots of our faith. Everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus as being the Christ, the Savior, the Messiah. The Jewish people did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah because they were expecting a concurring king, not a baby in a manger. They wanted an instant kingdom and victory over their enemies, not a peaceful everlasting reign. In the history of the nation of Israel great leaders arose to lead them to victory and bring about periods of peace and stability. As we started our celebration of Advent last Sunday Jewish people all over the world began the celebration of Hanukkah that evening. The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah is all about celebrating miracles. For all eight days of their holiday, Jews light candelabras, called hanukkias, to remember the temple lamp that burned for eight days after their ancestors reclaimed a temple from Greek invaders during the second century B.C. When they finally took the temple they only found enough oil for one day, but the lamp stayed lit for eight days. Now I hope that I am not boring you with all of this history. I think that it is important for us to understand the connections in our faiths. There are certain blessings that are recited while lighting the candles. Here is one of them. Blessing One: When Jews light the first candle in the middle of the menorah, they say or sing this blessing: “Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.” There are others, but for the sake of time we will stop there. For today let’s just focus on how God throughout history and through his Word has used light as a symbol of holiness.
I hope that you have been reading your daily devotionals during this Advent season. I will usually choose one of them from the current week as the focal point of my message. My hope in doing this is that as I expound upon it you will remember, and God will stir something in your spirit that will give you insights to his word. Today I am using the scripture from John 1: 9: “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” Who is John talking about here? Jesus is the light that came into this dark world to light the way back to God. And more than that, he is the light of salvation that shines in every heart of those who accept him and allow him into their lives; he enlightens everyone. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Everything was dark until God said, “Let there be light,” and he saw that the light was good. He didn’t say that the darkness was good, but that the light was good. Jesus says to us, “I am the light of the world.” I don’t pretend to be the smartest person in the world, but you don’t have to be a scholar to make the connection here. When we light our candles or witness the lighting of a menorah, it should remind us of the goodness of God. God has placed so many symbols of His goodness all around us. Have you ever watched the sun come up and thought: the wonder of it all, the blessing of light?
I want you to notice in today’s scripture reading, after all those big, hard to pronounce names. John the Baptist, went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Isaiah prophesized about this hundreds of years before it happened. John the Baptist is preparing the way by removing the obstacle of sin. He is preparing hearts and minds for the coming of Jesus. The light has come into the world but now people need to be able to recognize it. John is laying out the welcome mat for Jesus, the light of all mankind. How do we make Jesus feel welcome in our lives? What is the secret to letting the light of the world into your heart? Removing the sin. Before we can welcome Jesus into our hearts we must repent of our sins. Repentance is something that we avoid because when we repent, we must admit that we were wrong. In order to turn from our sins and reverse our course, we must admit that we were going the wrong way.
Listen to the words of this devotion: It is very important to realize that Jesus never forces himself on us. Unless we invite him in, he will remain a stranger. We can’t control the sun, its brightness, or its warmth. But we can control how much sun we experience. We can close our eyes or draw the shades. We can sleep through sunny mornings or cover ourselves from head to toe to avoid the sun’s rays. As powerful as the sun is, we can still resist it. God’s presence is like this too. It is everywhere, freely offered to us every day. But we have free will to avoid it if we wish. We can close our eyes to it or draw the shades of our hearts. We can cover ourselves from head to toe in our own distractions, desires, and sins. We can sleep through life and avoid the light of God’s presence. As followers of Jesus this should not be what we want. Deep down inside of us we can feel the Holy Spirit that Jesus placed in us, pulling at us, crying out to us to let the brightness, warmth, and healing rays of Christ, the true light in. God invites us to the bright sun of his presence. We can put on the warm light of Christ’s love. Repent of your sins and let in the light.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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