Today, I would like for us to put the 11th
Commandment on hold as I begin my sermon.
You do know what the 11th Commandment is, right? It was a commandment written specifically for
Lutherans in worship. It reads, when worshiping, thou shalt do nothing except
stand, sit, sing hymns, and occasionally laugh and clap. I know that some of you life long Lutherans
are wondering about that laugh and clap part, but it was discovered that German
scribes omitted that last part to purposely make worship more somber. Recently archaeologists dug up some very old
manuscripts to show that laughing and clapping were actually in the original
text. Okay. Enough of the fiction. But on a serious note, I would like to ask
you to do something a little different because I am going to put my preaching
to the test this morning, and I need your help to do it. I am going to ask you a question at the
beginning of my sermon, and then I am going to ask you the same question at the
end of the sermon. I will be able to
measure the effectiveness of my preaching if there is a difference. Can you please help me? Here is the question: do you believe that you
have seen the salvation of God? Please raise your hand if you believe that you
have seen the salvation of God. I’m not
going to criticize you or anything. I am
not going to judge you or anything of the sort.
Please, again, raise your hand if you believe you have seen God’s
salvation. Thank you (describe at 8 a.m.
for radio audience).
You may be wondering why I asked
that question, and I will tell you. For
years, I understood that our Christian faith was focused on what I was supposed
to do. I thought that it was about me
being a good person. I thought it was
about me following the commands of God.
I thought it was about being nice and kind and generous. I thought it was about me telling others to
do the same—to believe in Jesus and work hard to be a good person. But over time, I came to see that first and
foremost, Christianity was not focused on me and my actions. Those things come into play, don’t get me
wrong, but they are not primary. What is
primary; what is central and core to Christianity is not what I do, but what
God has already done in Jesus Christ.
This is one of the reasons we set
aside four Sundays to prepare for the arrival of Jesus at the very beginning of
the church year. We focus our attention
on what is happening as God comes to earth as that babe in Bethlehem, and we
remember that He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Traditionally, we spend a couple of weeks
hearing about John the Baptist and his ministry because he was the one who
prepared the way for Jesus’ when Jesus first came. Our Gospel lesson brings
this forward to us this morning from the third chapter of the book of Luke.
And Luke begins with this list of
powerful people in the Roman Empire. He
begins with Emperor Tiberius and then narrows it down to Pontius Pilate. He then talks about Herod, the puppet king of
Israel, and then Philip and Lysanias.
Finally, Luke lists Annas and Caiaphas the high priest of the Temple. At first, this might seem like just a list of
the powerbrokers of the day, but Luke is telling us something important. Luke is telling us that when God acts, He is
not removed from history. God moves
within human history working in the world that He created. God is not distant, set apart, just watching
things transpire. God looks into our
world and moves! No matter who is in
power. No matter who is in control. It doesn’t matter who controls the House or
the Senate or the Presidency. It doesn’t
matter who is on the Supreme Court.
Despite what these folks might be doing, they are not the ones who truly
are calling the shots. They are not the
ones with ultimate authority. There is
someone who is more powerful, more important, more diligent moving in the
course of history. God’s power and
might, when they are revealed are much more important than all of humanity’s
rulers.
And God’s power is revealed in the
Judean wilderness as it falls upon a very interesting character—a 30ish young
man who is dressed in camel’s hair and who eats grasshoppers and wild
honey. But this man’s dress and diet
aren’t what gets the attention. What is
getting the attention is that for the first time in 400 years, God has raised
up a prophet. The people were longing
and yearning to hear God speak. God had
been silent for all this time, and finally, finally God was once again
speaking! God was once again
communicating through a prophet!! The
people went out to hear John with anticipation and hope.
And John called them to
repentance. John called them to be
purified by the waters of baptism.
Perhaps Pastor Casey will go into this in more detail next Sunday as
John’s teaching is fleshed out, but for our purposes today, for our purposes
today, we are only given the reason why John was calling people to
repentance. We are only given the reason
why John was baptizing.
Luke quotes the Old Testament
Prophet Isaiah. He quotes Isaiah to make
it very clear what is happening in John the Baptist’s ministry. John is a herald. John is someone who is preparing the way. John is, “A voice of one calling in the
wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5Every valley shall be filled in, every
mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough
ways smooth. 6And all people will see God’s
salvation.”
When you read further down in the 40th
Chapter of Isaiah, it becomes even more clear what John was doing. Verse 9 and following says, “Get you up to a
high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the
cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ 10 See,
the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward
is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will
gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead
the mother sheep.”
John is heralding the arrival of the
Lord God. John is telling people that
the Lord is arriving! And there is only
one appropriate path for the Lord. It
cannot have any dips or hills. It cannot
have any curves. Everything should be
straight and level! Nothing must stand
in the way of the Lord!
Oh, for years how I thought that the
most important part of this passage was the thought that we needed to be making
those paths straight. Oh how I thought
that it was the church’s job to level the hills, raise the valleys, and
straighten the paths. Oh how I thought
it was the church’s job to transform the world—to save the world. Oh, how misguided I was. Because to save the world—to make all the
hills level and to bring up the valleys; to straighten out the curves would be
more difficult than trying to figure out what is in several boxes of canned
goods that someone had taken all the labels off of—not that anyone would
intentionally do that, would they? (For
those of you who didn’t get that reference, talk to me later.)
And so, I was very thankful for
Pastor Casey’s words last week when he said, “It’s not our job to save the
world because Jesus already said that He will save the world. Our job is to tell of Jesus, to see the
beauty of the work that Jesus is already doing…” And I would like to add this morning—to see
the beauty of what Jesus has already done.
For, you see, my brothers and
sisters, that is the key. Salvation has
already been revealed. Salvation has
already come. Salvation isn’t something
that is far and away to be experienced at a future date. Salvation isn’t something that we have to
scrounge around and look for. Salvation
isn’t something mysterious hidden away that we have to uncover. It is right before each and every person, and
all you have to do to see it is look at the cross. All you have to do to see it is look at the
empty tomb.
“For it was on that old cross that
Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me.” On the cross, Jesus saved you. On the cross
Jesus redeemed you. On the cross Jesus
gave you salvation. On the cross, He
bought you not with silver or gold but with His holy and precious blood. When Jesus said from the cross, “It is
finished,” He was letting us know that He has brought salvation to us.
And, the empty tomb shows what will
happen to us in the end. We have a
preview of what will happen to us. All
the evil that has ever been done will be unmade. All of the suffering that we have undergone
will be transformed. All darkness will
turn to light. All hatred will turn to
love. All sadness will turn to joy. This is no secret. Because of Jesus, this is something we can
count on; this is something we can trust in.
Salvation, my brothers and sisters,
has been revealed. Salvation has been
accomplished. “For God so loved the
world that He sent His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him
shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so
that the world might be saved through Him.”
When you look at Jesus, you are
seeing salvation. You are like Simeon in
the temple holding up the Christ child and singing, “my eyes have seen your
salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light
for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
Oh, and now, and now I must put my
preaching to the test. I must see
whether or not the Spirit was using me this morning. For now, if every hand is not raised, then I
have much more work to do to become more effective. If every hand is not raised, then I have
failed to show you Jesus—for in Jesus you see the salvation of God. Please now raise your hand if you have seen
Jesus. Raise your hand if you have seen
His work on the cross. Raise your hand
if you have seen the glory of his resurrection.
Raise your hand if you have been saved by His wondrous and glorious
grace.
And let us pray: Holy God, you have
worked to bring salvation to the world through Jesus. He has bought us with great priced and saved
us from our sin. Help us to see this
each and every day. Help us to hold onto
this with a sure and certain hope. Help
us to find great joy in your love for us, and encourage us to prepare a way so
that others may see Jesus as well. We
ask this in His holy and precious name.
Amen.
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