Sermon manuscript:
We spend a lot of our lives getting prepared. Children get
prepared to go to school. Those in school get prepared to go to college. Those
in college prepare for getting a job. Those with a job prepare for getting a
house. We get prepared for marrying a spouse. We get prepared for having a
child. We get prepared for grandchildren. We get prepared for retirement. We
get prepared by writing a will. We get prepared for having a funeral. We
prepare for a lot of things.
One of the things that we should be prepared for, but often
don’t prepare for, is to meet Jesus. The necessity of preparing for other
things is obvious. We know that we have to prepare, otherwise it isn’t going to
happen. When it comes to meeting Jesus a common thought seems to be: “I’m
already prepared."
“I went to Vacation Bible School when I was a kid. I went to
Sunday School.” But these are pretty shabby preparations. Even lackadaisically
attending the divine service every week can be pretty shabby. We prepare much
more thoroughly for all kinds of other endeavors in our life. What if kids
studied God’s Word as hard as they study to get a good job? But that doesn’t
happen. The reason is that we don’t care. We figure that we’re already
prepared, so we can indulge in whatever we might want to indulge in as the main
thing in our life.
This is strange, if you think about it. How can anything be
more important than meeting God? But we are not nearly so logical or wise as we
like to believe. Unbelief is deeply seated in our flesh. We lack the ability to
think seriously about our Maker. We follow every distraction that might come
our way.
It’s like we’re supposed to be on our journey to God, but
every off-ramp that comes along we can’t help but take. The billboard says,
“Pleasure here!” And off we go. “Honors and recognition here!” and we put on
our blinker. We are ready and willing to prepare for absolutely anything that
holds out promise for our happiness and blessing, so long as it is not the one
thing needful.
This is why it is necessary for God to send John the
Baptists. John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for the Lord. Like a
good roadbuilder he shaves off the mountains and hills and fills in the
valleys. He makes the crooked places straight. He makes the rough places
smooth.
Or, to continue on with the analogy that I’ve already
started, the John the Baptists whom God sends put up roadblocks for the exits
on the highway to our God. We need to prepare to meet the Christ. We’re never
going to be prepared if we are always getting off the highway to pursue any and
every other goal besides meeting our Maker.
But the John the Baptists whom God sends do not have a very
easy time doing this. With practically all the prophets whom God calls to be
his messengers, they all answer pretty much the same way. They all say, “Not
me. I don’t want to do this.” People are stubborn as mules. We want to do what
we want to do. While we are doing what we want to do we want to be assured that
what we are doing is fine. It is in the nature of roadblocks that they are essentially
saying, “This isn’t fine. You aren’t fine if you do this.” People don’t like hearing
this.
This is what brought about John the Baptist’s death, as Luke
mentions at the end of our reading. He told Herod and Herodias that it was
wrong for them to divorce their spouses so that they could be together. They
were committing adultery with each other. They, and especially Herodias, did
not like this. When an opportunity arose to remove the head of John the Baptist
from his shoulders and put it on a silver platter, she jumped at the chance.
She didn’t repent. She got even.
Or so she thought, anyway. She thought that she won in a
contest between herself and John the Baptist, but John the Baptist was never
playing her game. All true prophets and all genuine Christians do not say what
they say because they want to dominate over other people. They do not put up
roadblocks because they want to throw their weight around like a bad cop. They
are following instructions that have been given to them by God. Herodias thought
that she was in a contest with John the Baptist, but the fact of the matter is
that her contest was with God. She proved her guilt by the way she treated the
prophet whom God sent her. She thought she won, but she is going to lose.
John the Baptist, for his part, lost nothing when he lost
his head. He too was and is dealing with God. God doesn’t need glue to put his
head back on. His ways of healing are much more marvelous than that. Doing the
right thing, acting according to the Word of God regardless of the
consequences, is powerfully comforting. John the Baptist could be satisfied
that he had said and done what was right.
Those who are warned, however, and plunge right on ahead, driving
through the roadblock, their consciences testify against them. That’s the best
case scenario. If they still have a conscience there’s a chance that they can
still get back on the highway to God. If they become proud of their rebellion
against God, then there’s less and less hope for them as time goes on. They
confirm themselves and strengthen themselves in their errors. They are lost in
the imaginations of their hearts.
They don’t know the way to the highway. They cease to know
what is really good and what is really evil. They don’t know which way to go.
They end up going after the things that they think are good, which are actually
worthless or evil. They don’t do what is good because it does not suit their
fancies or advance their own ambitions. By all outward appearances they may
appear perfectly fine or more than fine. They might still retain membership in
the church. But God judges justly. Whether a rebuke, a warning, a roadblock was
justified or not is something that God is going to decide. Whatever you might
think about it won’t matter in the slightest.
Christianity is a religion of repentance. It’s been a
religion of repentance from the very beginning. Adam and Eve had to change
directions. The whole Bible testifies to practically all the great ones needing
to change direction. Repentance is painful. It always feels better to believe
that we are just fine the way that we are. But the way we are is sinful and
unclean. If we just continue according to our own inclinations, then it is
inevitable that we will not be on the highway to our God.
Since Christianity is a religion of repentance, it is
extremely important that we be sensitive to the John the Baptists that God
sends into our life for our own good. Some of these people who speak God’s
truth to us might be called by God to preach in an official and public capacity—like
me as a pastor. Others will not be officially called, but will speak God’s Word
because they are Christians. Regardless of how God sends his Word to you, be
careful that you do not despise it.
It might seem that whatever gets said to you is not God’s
Word. It is easy to think that whatever gets said is just a personal hang-up of
the person (or the goody-two-shoes) who is talking. It is easy to resent being
told what to do. It is easy to deflect the message that should bring about
repentance into something else. A person, for example, could complain about
John the Baptist’s appearance, or his diet, or his harsh words. But all these are
besides the point.
If you are confronted by a Word from God that gets your
goat, here is some advice. Step back for a moment and think about what is going
on. Ask yourself whether this person who is talking to you hates you. Do you
think John the Baptist hated those who he talked to? Even though he could
become very angry, it was not hatred that prompted him to speak. Even when he
called the crowds who were coming to him a brood of vipers, it was so that they
would wake up and repent. Perhaps the one who has spoken to you desires
goodness and happiness for you. They can see that the way that you are going is
definitely not going to turn out well. Even if God doesn’t take away your
happiness in this life, you will be responsible for your rebellion against him
in the next.
On the other hand, it is possible that the one whom you are
dealing with could be evil. It is certainly possible for people to abuse each
other spiritually. It’s not like every rebuke and warning has to be
automatically listened to. Sometimes the person whom you are dealing with hates
you, and, for example, wants to dominate over you. Plus they do it in the Name
of God. Shame on them! They will be severely judged for doing that, for there
is hardly a worse sin a person could commit than to mislead and harm while
claiming to speak for God. Jesus warns us against wolves wearing sheep’s
clothing.
It is important, therefore, that we do not simply accept
whatever anybody and everybody might say. We’ve been given the Bible to know what
is right and what is wrong. No human being, no matter how saintly or kindly
that person might appear to be, has the right to contradict Scripture. So if
someone speaks to you in such a way where he or she is claiming that it is what
God says, then you do well to see that it is found in Scripture. In this
endeavor, though, make sure that you don’t let the devil or your flesh trick
you. The devil has been known to quote Scripture too. Sometimes people can be
awfully clever, twisting the Scriptures towards their own purposes.
There are big challenges in knowing whether something that
has been said is true to God’s Word or not. Such is life. Don’t be a lazy fool,
like so many, who say that they can’t be bothered to know whether something is
true or not. They want to pass off this task to someone else so that they are
no longer responsible. You should recognize this as a foolish thought if you
only think about what is going on. It’s not like this is some isolated part of
our existence that we can hire someone to do for us. This is talking about the
main thing. There is the highway to our God with many exits. If we end up
getting off the highway, and then complain about it being hard knowing where to
go, there is no one who is going to suffer for that except one’s self.
There is a divine story to all of our lives. God is dealing
with each one of us. While we are in the midst of it, we usually don’t have the
perspective where we can see the big picture. I’m old enough now to look back
on my own life and see some critical moments where God sent a John the Baptist
into my life. I must continue to be on the lookout for these gifts from God—gifts
that are sometimes really painful. I will need these gifts until I’m safely
laid into the grave if Christ doesn’t come first.
Eventually everyone will be able to see those critical
moments in their life where they were urged to repent. It is so important that
we not be like Herod and Herodias. It is so important that we do not get mad at
John the Baptist instead of listening to him. Otherwise the rebukes and warnings
that get spoken to us might haunt us eternally. We might wish with every fiber
of our being that we had heeded the warning instead of plunging headlong into
whatever it was that we wanted to continue to do.
This is not child’s play. It is not the case that what is
important about your life is all the other stuff and church is just a hobby or
a custom. The highway to our God is the main thing. See to it that you stay on
the steep and narrow way.
No comments:
Post a Comment