He is Lord

Long Expected Jesus  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  35:11
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He is Lord
Turn to Mark 1 and Luke 1.
We are peculiar people. We say Christmas is about Jesus, and yet, sometimes, we forget to live like it. It is easy to be distracted this time of year. Decorating. Shopping. Christmas gatherings and events. And even though we spend a lot of time and energy preparing for Christmas, we can neglect to prepare our hearts for Christ. Our hearts get crowded and we forget that we need to unclutter our hearts and make room for Him. If we fail to make room in our hearts for Christ, then how are we to help those around us prepare their hearts?
Advent is a season of preparing - preparing for His arrival. Not only should we prepare our own hearts, but we are called to prepare the hearts of those around us. So how do we do that? John the Baptist gives us a good example of one who not only prepared himself, but also prepared those around him.
Mark 1:1 NIV
The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God,
Mark is probably the earliest of the four gospel letters. Mark begins the New Testament much like the Old in Genesis 1, that “In the beginning, God.” And here there’s a new beginning - and it’s the gospel, or good news of Jesus the Christ, Emmanuel, God with us in the flesh, and he lived, died and rose from the dead.
He makes it clear that this Jesus is the Messiah. Now when Christ was born, he was given a common name, Jeshua, which in old Hebrew is Yehoshua - or Joshua in English. And it means “Yahweh saves.” But this Jeshua, even though His name was common, He was not - for He is the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one – the one whom Israel had been waiting for.
How long had Israel been waiting? We can trace the promise all the way back to Abraham in Gen. 22, but in this particular point in history, Israel had been waiting for roughly 400 years – that’s the time between the Old and New Testaments, and we call them the “silent years.” Not because people weren’t sitting around in mute silence. The “silent years” refers to the seemingly silence of Yahweh – no visions, no writings – just silence. And so we find Israel waiting for God to speak again, waiting for the Messiah to come and deliver and restore the kingdom. And they were probably wondering – “How long, O Lord, how long?”
They all knew Yahweh promised a king.
Micah 5:2 NIV
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
They knew a King was coming, but what was taking so long? So they did what most people do – just went on with their lives, and many failed to keep the fire of hope burning. Oh, they heard the faint whispers that a child was born, and there was a brief stir of anticipation, but that was 30 years ago, and not much has happened since then. And so you go one with life - just trying to survive.
So what does God do when people lose the anticipation of His coming? What does He do to rekindle that fire of expectation? He sends a messenger.
Verse 2,
Mark 1:2–3 NIV
as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”— “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ”
Does the Lord really need someone to prepare His way, to make His paths straight? Yes and no. If God wanted to exert His sovereignty and make everyone believe, then no - no preparation is necessary. Just add God, bake at 375o for 2,000 years and we’re all believers. But that’s not how God operates. God almost always uses people to reach people - and so here, God sent a messenger, John the Baptist to prepare the way for the arrival of the Christ.
Two questions: 1) What is a messenger of God? 2) What does it mean to prepare His way?
What is a messenger of God?
We understand there are men and women specifically called of God to be prophets - to be His messengers on earth - such as the case with John. However, I want to speak in a general sense this morning, that in some way, we are all messengers of God. He’s given every believer the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5)
Understand that Israel had been waiting for a long time for the promised Messiah. Their time in captivity, and under Roman rule probably calloused a lot hearts. Even though they were in the Promised Land, they were “strangers” in their own land. Perhaps many were cynical, weary and worn. God’s silence loudly proclaimed He had forgotten them.
And thus, they needed to remember who they were - they were children of the Promise. And they needed to remember who God was - He was the Promise Maker and Promise Keeper. They needed to hear that they were not forgotten and that He indeed was coming.
And so God sent a messenger ahead of Christ. To prepare His way? Not necessarily, but to prepare people. See,
Messengers prepare hearts.
Hearts become cluttered, calloused, cold - and they need to be softened and warmed - hearts need prepared for Christ. That’s Advent – a season of preparation and longing for the arrival of Christ. What does the Christmas carol say – “Let every heart prepare Him room.” That’s what messengers do - they help people make room for Christ.
So, how does one prepare a heart? The word prepare means to build or construct and so
Messengers build bridges and construct paths between God and people.
We build bridges and construct paths by praying, loving and serving.
1 John 3:16–18 NIV
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Messengers prepare hearts.
What does it mean to prepare the way of the Lord?
As we already saw, it means to prepare hearts, but there’s more to it than that.
Jump over to
Luke 1:76–78 NIV
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
Then in verse,
Luke 1:80 NIV
And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.
Back to
Mark 1:4–6 NIV
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
Let’s put this into perspective. John is a young pastor planting a new church. It’s obvious he lacks experience and wisdom of “seasoned pastors.” You don’t plant a church in the wilderness with jack rabbits, coyotes and grasshopper breath. Location is everything – right. Come on - you need people and Altoids! You don’t plant a church in the wilderness!
But look at the text. People were flocking to him. How is that possible?
What does it mean to prepare the way of the Lord? Well, as messengers, we need to know …
1) Location and Timing are Everything
God provides opportunities to love people, help people, teach people …. Sometimes God calls us to the craziest places and His timing doesn’t always jive with ours. But John was at the right place at the right time - why? Because that’s where God wanted him. And so learn from John, who was a messenger in the wilderness preparing the way for Christ, that you …
a) Go where God wants you to go
… even if it doesn’t make sense. It didn’t make sense to start a ministry in the wilderness, but he did. If he would have been in the city, he’d be known as John the Street Sweeper, and that’s just not as catchy. Look, there is a bigger plan at work than we can imagine, and so we simply need to go where God wants us to go.
And as far as timing, we see John as an infant, then he faded from sight for 30 years - waiting for His time. And so learn from John, who was a messenger in the wilderness preparing the way for Christ, that you …
b) Go when God wants you to go
… even if it doesn’t make sense.
What does it mean to prepare the way of the Lord? Well, as messengers, we also need to know that
2) Practical Communication is Essential
What does that mean? What did John preach? He preached repentance, forgiveness of sin and baptism. To whom did John preach? Mostly Jews, who understood repentance, and sin and baptism. He was using language that people understood. He communicated in practical terms, so they could get it.
Romans 10:9 NIV
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
If people don’t understand the words coming out of your mouth, then you have ugly feet.
Continuing …
Mark 1:7–8 NIV
And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
In Luke 3:15, we’re told that many people thought John to be the Messiah. You know, I’ve never had that problem. But, just in case some of you were starting to wonder … let me set the record straight ….
But seriously, there was something powerful about John and his message that caused people to wonder - is this the Messiah.
This still happens. We can put people on pedestals, and treat them like a savior. And pastors and people in similar professions can over time believe that they’re a savior. It happens because it feels good to be wanted. It feels good to be admired. It feels good to be instrumental in someone’s life. And if we’re not careful, we can pat ourselves on the back and believe that other people need us more than they need Christ. And that does nothing to prepare hearts for Christ. That’s pride, and pride distracts from Christ, and what we need is humility - that He’s God and we’re not.
And so as messengers of God, understand that
3) Authentic Humility is Exalting.
When we truly know Christ, we long to point people away from us and toward Him. He’s the Savior. He’s the Messiah. He’s the One people need - He’s the one who forgives sin and sets people free. And that’s what John was doing - he joyfully said,
John 3:29 NIV
The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
Authentic humility exalts Christ - it makes much of Him. It points people toward Him, and away from ourselves.
And so as we close - a few questions:
First, is this Jesus, who is Emmanuel, God with us - the Lord of your life? Have you repented of your sins, turned from a life of sin and made Him Lord?
Secondly, what a few ways you can help prepare hearts this Advent? What bridges can you build? What paths can you construct between God and your neighbor?
Are you going where He wants you to go? Going when He wants you to go?
Christ has come, and He will come again. In the meantime, He asks us to be messengers - to bring good news of joy to the world.
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