Sunday 12/17/23 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “We Are Called To Prepare The Way!” (“The Eternal Truth” Series: Part 3 of 5)
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 126
New Testament Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Gospel Lesson: John 1:6-8, 19-28
We
are in a season of preparation, or a season of preparing. Some of us are
sending cards, making cookies, preparing food, decorating, wrapping gifts, and
in general, preparing. We are hanging lights, decorating trees, and covering
our lawns with inflatable Santa Clauses and all sorts of other weird and odd stuff!
We are making plans, preparing to wear ugly Christmas sweaters, or what we used
call that sweater my aunt got me 10-years ago! Maybe we also preparing to drink
a little eggnog. Do we drink eggnog in the summer? No, only right now, and why?
I have no idea, but we do. It’s eggnog season! We, are not only preparing for
Christmas, we might also be preparing to go to more than one place to celebrate.
For many of us, we have lists, things to do, things to buy, places to go, and
people to see.
Some of us might wish that we didn’t
have to do so much of this preparation, yet life is always full of times of
preparation. Even if it is not a busy time, we are always preparing. Perhaps we
preparing food, perhaps we are preparing to wash clothes, maybe we are preparing
to take out the garbage, or preparing for something else. On a large or a small
scale, we are always preparing.
The question I have for us to think
about on this Third Sunday of Advent then, is what is the significance of our preparations?
Or to put it another way, do the preparations that we make, have influence over
us or others? Can our preparations effect people in both good and bad ways?
What sorts of preparations have we made that were good, and what sort of preparations
have we made that are bad? If I cook dinner for Melissa, for example, it is probably
going to be bad preparations.
We are in a
season of preparation. We are preparing for the birth of Christ, and the return
of Christ. We are preparing to celebrate Christmas with family and friends, and
as I said, many of us are busy preparing. On that first Christmas when Jesus
was born, Joseph and Mary had to prepare for Jesus’ birth by going to Bethlehem
to be registered in the population census ordered by the then Roman Emperor
Ceaser Augustus. You see, if you know the population and other important information,
you know many things, like how much tax you can charge! So, Joseph and Mary,
with Mary pregnant with Jesus, had to head to Bethlehem for the census.
Mary was close to giving birth to
Jesus, but Mary and Joseph, once again, had to go to Bethlehem so that Joseph
and his family could registered in census. It was prophesied that Jesus or the
Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, the city of the great King David. As a
result, Joseph and Mary had to make the journey to Bethlehem in preparation for
Jesus’ birth. Preparing, getting ready, are things that we do all the time. We
prepared to come to church this morning, and some of us prepare to go bed at
night, and etc., and etc. How do our preparations affect us, and how do our preparations
affect others? What are we preparing for? What do we want to prepare for in this
season of Advent and soon to be Christmas?
I ask all of this, because Jesus’ cousin
John the Baptist prepared the way for his cousin, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. John
the Baptist specifically called people to repentance of their sins in and
around Judea, and baptized them, to prepare them for the coming of Jesus
Christ. Advent is a season of waiting and preparation. We are waiting for the
birth and the return of Jesus Christ, but we can also prepare our hearts, our
souls, and we can conform our lives to be like Jesus Christ.
We are all, as I said, always and
constantly preparing. In this season of Advent and to soon to be Christmas
though, are we preparing our hearts, our minds, and those around us for the
coming of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. John the Baptist in our gospel
lesson was solely committed to this task. Those people who repented of their
sins and we baptized by John the Baptist realized that John the Baptist was
preparing them for the messiah, the savior. John the Baptist’s efforts in
preparation helped to till the spiritual soil of many hearts to be ready for
Jesus Christ. Some even thought that John the Baptist was the messiah, but he
was very clear that it wasn’t him. John the Baptist even said that he wasn’t
even worthy to untie the messiah’s sandals.
Amidst all that this season of Advent and
soon to be Christmas is, while we are all preparing many things, may we be preparing
the way for Jesus Christ. Or as my sermon for this morning is called “We Are
Called To Prepare The Way!” We even have a short hymn in our United Methodist
Church Hymnal called “Prepare the Way of the Lord” #207. This hymn tells us to “Prepare
the way of the Lord”. This is exactly what John the Baptist does in our gospel
of John reading for this morning, and we are invited to do the same.
In our reading from Psalm 126 for this morning, we
hear in 126:3:
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced (Ps. 126:3, NRSV).
This Psalm is about
the restoration of Israel’s fortune. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s kingdom,
the hope of the world, our Lord, our savior, and the one in whom John the
Baptist prepares the way for.
In looking at our
reading for this morning from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24, once again, we hear from
the Apostle Paul telling the church in Thessalonica or the Thessalonians to
have hope in Christ. In fact, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 says once again:
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil. 23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this (1 Thess. 5:16-24, NRSV).
The Apostle Paul tells us that Christ
is coming. He will come on Christmas and one day will return again. Be excited
about this, have hope in this, and let us prepare ourselves and others for
this. Friends, “We Are Called To Prepare The Way” like the John the Baptist
did, for Jesus Christ.
This leads us to our gospel of John
1:6-8, 19-28 reading for this morning, once again. Let’s hear once again of
this account of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. Last Sunday we read an account
of John the Baptist from the gospel of Mark, and this morning we have another
from the gospel of John. Picking up starting in John 1:6, it says, once again:
6 There was a man sent from God whose name
was John. 7 He
came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through
him. 8 He
himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light (Jn. 1:6-8, NRSV).
So,
John the Baptist, while a righteous man, was again, was not God. John the Baptist
is preparing the way for God. The light of the world is about to introduce himself
to the world, and John is preparing the way for him. In this season of advent
and soon to be Christmas, “We Are Called To Prepare The Way” for Jesus Christ.
In continuing
in our gospel of John reading it says picking up starting in John 1:19, once
again:
19 This is the testimony given by John when
the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed
and did not deny it, but he confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am
not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Then they said
to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you
say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying
out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ”as the prophet Isaiah said.
24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him,
“Why, then, are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor
the prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water.
Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me;
I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.” 28 This took place
in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing (Jn. 1:6-8, 19-28, NRSV).
John
the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus Christ, and in this season of waiting,
anticipation, hope, peace, joy, and love, I pray amidst all of our
preparations, that we are preparing the way for Christ to.
I
don’t know why, but the Holy Spirit gave me this, but when I was preparing to
write this sermon. For some reason I kept thinking of the Iditarod around the topic
of preparing the way. Has anyone here ever heard of the Iditarod? The Iditarod
is a dog sled race. Specifically, this is what one source I found says about
the Iditarod:
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod (/aɪˈdɪtərɒd/), is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome, entirely within the US state of Alaska. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 14 dogs, of which at least 5 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 8–15 days or more. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams but evolved into today's highly competitive race. Teams often race through blizzards causing whiteout conditions, sub-zero temperatures and gale-force winds which can cause the wind chill to reach −100 °F (−73 °C). A ceremonial start occurs in the city of Anchorage and is followed by the official restart in Willow, a city 80 miles (129 km) north of Anchorage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iditarod_Trail_Sled_Dog_Race).
This Iditarod dog sled race is 938 miles, and in order to
successfully complete this race, in potentially hazardous conditions, you must
be prepared. You have to train; you have to devote time and energy. Yet, the
thing that bring the victor over the finish line is not the human by themselves
musher themselves, it’s their team of dogs. The dog prepares the way for the
master to cross the finish line. John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus
Christ. Iditarod dogs prepare and bring forth their masters to the finish, to their
great reward.
In this season of advent and soon to be Christmas, God
calls us all, in the midst of preparing for so many other things, “to prepare
the way” for Jesus Christ. The path might be long, and it might be filled with
hazards, but when we work together, when we “prepare the way” together, we then
are making the way for the master, Jesus Christ to enter into the hearts of all
people. “We Are Called To Prepare The Way,” so that whole world might cross the
finish line into God’s kingdom. When this happens, we all will enter the light,
life, and love of Jesus Christ. Let’s prepare the way in this holy and blessed
season! Amen.
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