Text: Luke 3: 1-6<\/p>\n
He shows up this time each year.\u00a0 It might seem kind of confusing.\u00a0 Here we are a few weeks from celebrating our Savior\u2019s birth and this man named John shows up.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t seem like he belongs.\u00a0 Soon we\u2019ll put up our manger scene. Mary, Joseph, the Child,\u00a0 We think of\u00a0 shepherds.\u00a0 But we won\u2019t have a figure of John the Baptist.<\/p>\n
So why is he here this morning?\u00a0 He kind of throws off our chronology.\u00a0 In fact, as a young person John the Baptist used to confuse me.\u00a0 Was John the Baptist a grown man when Jesus was born.\u00a0 No, Jesus and John were born months apart.<\/p>\n
So what is he doing here this morning.\u00a0 John was sent to ready people for the Lord\u2019s coming.\u00a0 He does the same for us.\u00a0 His message readies hearts to welcome our Advent king\u2026 whether it be his coming at Bethlehem, his coming to our hearts in his Supper or his coming in the clouds in all his glory.\u00a0 John\u2019s message readies our hearts.\u00a0 So we say:<\/p>\n
A Voice Calls Out From the Desert \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar\u2014when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene\u2014 2 <\/sup>during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,\u2026<\/span> The gospel writer Luke fixes for us this time in world history.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to give you a taste of those times from some of my reading. We hear of the glory of the Roman empire.\u00a0 Before Tiberius, Augustus was emperor.\u00a0 In those years, the empire reached its zenith, but also was in the midst of decay.<\/p>\n Think of the city of Rome.\u00a0 It was about two million people.\u00a0 About half were slaves, the rest were freedmen or foreigners.\u00a0 Any slavery is a sad thing.\u00a0 But the slaves of Roman society suffered untold cruelty and oppression.\u00a0 The sick or old were disposed of like trash.\u00a0 Some slaves were treated so badly that being fed to wild beasts in the coliseum might have seemed a better fate.<\/p>\n The slaves permitted some of the free citizens to sit around and do nothing but maybe drink and think about what was playing in the theatre or the spectacles of death in the coliseum.\u00a0 Many of the free citizens were dependent on the state.\u00a0 They were idle and morals declined.\u00a0 There was no right or wrong.\u00a0 Marriage and family life suffered terribly as women joined in the immorality of men.\u00a0 And abortion, even the murder of new born children, was common and accepted.<\/p>\n The Roman empire was a society in decay. \u00a0And with that decay came a kind of despair expressed in many ways.\u00a0 The old religions left them empty. \u00a0\u00a0On the grave of a young girl was written:\u00a0 To the unjust gods who robbed me of life.<\/em> \u00a0Even the best of Roman society felt that despair.\u00a0 A senator and historian named Tacitus captured it well when he declared human life a farce and saw the Roman empire as under some terrible curse.\u00a0 Yes, the glory of Rome had become a pit of despair and decay.<\/p>\n Then think of the people of Israel in Palestine who lived under Rome.\u00a0 Under Augustus the Jews were treated fairly.\u00a0 But he was succeeded by Tiberius who was bitterly hostile to Judaism and the Jews.\u00a0 Pontius Pilate was an instrument of that emperor\u2019s brutality.\u00a0 And the other tetrarchs, the Herods, all but one, served their emperor well.<\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t just the secular rulers who oppressed the people.\u00a0 You heard Luke speak of the Jewish high priests, Annas and Caiaphas.\u00a0 The temple was supposed to be God\u2019s house.\u00a0 But Caiaphas was handpicked by the Romans.\u00a0 And Jewish writings describe those men who ruled over the church in terrible terms.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure about you, but my study of those days makes me think of our own.\u00a0 There are some sad parallels.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have slavery but our society, our values, our way of life in many ways resembles the Roman world back then. I see a downward spiral where marriage and family and human life is being degraded.\u00a0 I also see a growing tendency on the part of the ruling class to push us Christians back into some dark corner where no one can see us or hear us speak of God. \u00a0And the Christian church.\u00a0 Look at some of its leaders.\u00a0 Annas and Caiphas were men who did not believe in much of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 They were like some leaders that we see in church bodies today. \u00a0And can you see the emptiness and despair in our own day?\u00a0 People surrounded by stuff\u00a0 but with hearts sometimes bitter, empty and alone.\u00a0 People without hope and without God and unable to sense what is wrong.<\/p>\n So we\u2019re told in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar \u2026the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 There of all places, a voice would call out.\u00a0 Not in the city, not at some great center of learning, but in a dry, barren uninviting place.\u00a0 A voice would call out.\u00a0 A man with God\u2019s own Word.\u00a0 The voice of a messenger \u00a0that God had promised \u00a0long before.\u00a0 And now after a long silence of 400 years there came that voice.\u00a0 God\u2019s own man.\u00a0 A voice that called out from the desert to a fallen world crouching in hopelessness<\/strong>.\u00a0 A world not much different from our own.<\/p>\n Many came out.\u00a0 Crowds.\u00a0 So many that Mark described it this way.\u00a0 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem came out to see him.<\/span>\u00a0 (1:5) The people probably wondered what they would find, what they would hear what they would see.\u00a0 What was this man, this voice all about.\u00a0 God had told them if they were paying attention when the scrolls of the \u00a0prophets were read.\u00a0 It was to prepare them\u00a0 A voice calls out from the desert to ready a people to welcome\u00a0 their King<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 That voice does the same for us today.<\/p>\n When a king came to town, you got things ready.\u00a0 Everything had to be just right including the roads.\u00a0 You didn\u2019t want your king\u2019s chariot or horse to stumble into a big hole and he then raise your taxes even more.\u00a0 Here Luke takes us back to the prophet Isaiah, who used that kind of picture to describe John\u2019s mission.\u00a0 \u201cA voice of one calling in the desert, \u2018Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5<\/sup> Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s pretty clear.\u00a0 For John to readya people would take some big time earthmoving.\u00a0 But don\u2019t misunderstand.\u00a0 This is not about civil engineering, work crews and hard hats. These are pictures of what needs to happen in hearts and lives for us to be ready to welcome our Advent King.\u00a0 Think of a path beaten by our regular visits to things that ought not be part of our lives.\u00a0 How about that empty valley that seems to have nothing but hopelessness and despair\u00a0 Or what about that mountain of foolish pride that says, I\u2019m a pretty good person.\u00a0 Maybe not perfect but not as bad as some.<\/em>\u00a0 Prepare the way for the Lord.<\/span>\u00a0 Well for that crooked path to become straight, that valley filled in, that mountain made low would take some big time earthmoving in human hearts.<\/p>\n But God\u2019s man was up to it.\u00a0 He did not shrink back from\u00a0 calling sinners to repentance.\u00a0 And remember what repentance is. A change of heart and mind.\u00a0 A change that the Spirit works. \u00a0\u00a0A change where we see sin, our sin, for what it is\u2014a deadly act of rebellion against God.\u00a0 Something we want no part of.\u00a0 But something that has covered us with guilt That\u2019s repentance.\u00a0 It\u2019s admitting that before God.\u00a0 But it\u2019s more.\u00a0 John led these people to see how much they needed this One to come.\u00a0 That in him there was forgiveness, God\u2019s forgiveness, full and free.\u00a0 That his coming would bring salvation, rescue, from this fallen world crouching in death and hopelessness.\u00a0 John pointed them to this One.\u00a0 He urged them to trust in Him and what he would bring.<\/p>\n So repenting, they were baptized by John.\u00a0 Baptized for the forgiveness of their sins.\u00a0 And they were ready, ready to welcome their Lord and King.<\/p>\n You know, when I think about it.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that the work of God\u2019s messengers today?\u00a0 Not to gather people and make this into some big pep rally where so much is about feeling good and feeling God\u2019s presence. For what is the work of God\u2019s messengers and what we should we look for?\u00a0 Not that they\u00a0 preach the seven sure fire rules of good marriages or better finances. \u00a0But this.\u00a0 What John the Baptist preached.\u00a0 What this King who bled and died and rose in victory \u00a0for us calls his church to do: That first Easter Sunday he gave us these marching orders:\u00a0 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in Jesus\u2019 name to all nations.<\/span><\/p>\n For there the Spirit readies us. He helps us to look up from the the hopelessness of this world to the coming Lord.\u00a0 To look up from all the busy preparations of this season to Him whose coming we will soon celebrate.<\/p>\n So let me close with this thought.\u00a0 Two days ago I got a note from a new friend of mine.\u00a0 He told me how his family had just gotten back from driving around their town looking at all the Christmas decorations.\u00a0 Jerry has a tradition in his family.\u00a0 When they see a manger scene they stop and ring a bell to celebrate the baby Jesus. This year his young daughter had the bell.\u00a0 Jerry told me this:\u00a0 To see our little girl get so excited about Jesus is priceless.\u00a0 <\/em>Her little heart is ready isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Ready to welcome our King when he comes again. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text: Luke 3: 1-6 He shows up this time each year.\u00a0 It might seem kind of confusing.\u00a0 Here we are a few weeks from celebrating our Savior\u2019s birth and this man named John shows up.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t seem like he belongs.\u00a0 Soon we\u2019ll put up our manger scene. Mary, Joseph, the Child,\u00a0 We think of\u00a0 shepherds.\u00a0 But we won\u2019t have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions\/393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>I.\u00a0 To a fallen world crouching in hopelessness
\n<\/strong>II. To ready a people to welcome their King<\/strong><\/p>\n