Luke 3:1-6. Preparation!! 6/12/09
(1) In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar--when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene-- {2} during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. {3} He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. {4} As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. {5} Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. {6} And all mankind will see God's salvation.'" {7} John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Today's readings remind us of the preparation necessary for God's coming to his people. Here John the Baptist reminds people of the preparation needed for the coming of Christ as their King, and this is a very important aspect that we also need to consider here today. There is preparation that needs to be done in order to receive Christ and the forgiveness of sins and the eternal life that he has for us.
But sadly, like the rest of life, too often we want the benefits that something has to offer – we want the good things offered, without any necessary preparation. We today want forgiveness without repentance; communion without confession; being a part of God's family without living in accord with it; we want freedom and rights without responsibility; we want authority and power without submission and humility; we want life without death.
With that kind of attitude, we then wonder why the harvest is not there - why the Church is more fragmented and in decline: why our own lives lack meaning and purpose; why life doesn't feel quite right. Now in the rest of life, we know that if we don't put the necessary work in beforehand things don't work out as well as they should. The Christmas dinner doesn't just appear on the table, like many of us men often seem to think it does; the ladies put a lot of time in beforehand in order to see that it is the best that it possibly can be. With farming or a business the same thing applies – we can see those who put the work into it, and we can see those who are looking for the easy and quick dollar – the easy way out.
Taking the short cut doesn't work out in the long run. We might think we can get away with it at the time; and many seem to be prospering by doing so, but in the end, they all get found out. Good preparation and a good basis is essential; even in the church - even in our own spiritual lives. In fact there it is even more critical; for there is no forgiveness without repentance; no real communion without confession; no close family bonds within the church if there is no attempt to live as a family should; no freedom without living out our responsibilities; no power and authority without humility and service; no life without death. The one always and only follows and accompanies the other.
There is no easy way out - no way to get to heaven without taking things seriously now. We cannot think that we can go along with the crowd and do what everyone else is doing; idolize what they idolize, and think that it doesn't matter. Thinking that as long as we go to church occasionally and be a reasonably good bloke, then she'll be right -it'll all work out in the end. It doesn't work that way. To do that is to invite disaster.
To short-circuit things spiritual is to lead to despair and destruction. We can't have and do what is right if we are not prepared to play by God's rules. To seek power and glory without obedience, love and humility ends only in tragedy. Just as we are now seeing the results of people who thought they didn't need go to church regularly and that they could play their sport on Sundays, work their farms and businesses, and all the rest; many of those in time have dropped out all together; and even more tragically their children do not even consider or know the Gospel and as a result, are destined for an eternity in Hell. There is no easy way out.
Yes, Jesus did die on the cross so that we can be freely forgiven! Yes, we were baptised and accepted into God family by the grace of God! Yes, Jesus does offer us his body and blood in Holy Communion, for the assurance of forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Yes, we are given the freedom to be the people of God, and we do have authority and power in connection with Jesus Christ. Yes, we are given life in abundance – here and in eternity. It is all there for us, simply because our Lord wants it for us. Through the Good News of Jesus Christ, it is all there for us.
But the message here is that there is preparation that needs be done in our lives in order for it to be ours. There is the need for repentance: A big need for repentance. There are so many coasting through life - following the broad and easy road that leads to destruction; and who think that somehow they will miraculously be transferred at the end of life, from dropping off into Hell and instead be placed at the other end going to heaven. Their lives are turned away from God, coasting along through life; freewheeling down wide and easy road to Hell, without a thought as to where they are going; far less a desire to turn and seek forgiveness, help, and the life that God has to offer, that they fail to see that Christ and eternity is at other end of the road – behind them.
But here in this reading we called on to turn around; now! To see that without God and simply focussed on ourselves and our own wants and desires, we are in trouble: There we are on the road that leads to Hell. We are reminded, that we cannot turn our backs on God and what he has to offer without it being disastrous for us. We need God’s help: we need Christ and his forgiveness, his family relationships; his Communion; his freedom; his life; and we need it now. We need to daily recognise our need for and our dependence on our Lord and Saviour and everything that he has to offer.
And repentance is that daily recognition of, and a turning from, a life that is not what is in accord with God, and a seeking of forgiveness and all the help that God has to give us – and then it is also the desire to live as God would have us live. True repentance is knowing all the while, that it is in Jesus Christ alone, that salvation and the real help we need is ours.
Here we too need to constantly turn away from the desire to live and act as we please and remember that in that way of selfish living we are living out the sin that is within us. We need to turn to God in sorrow for that sin, seeking his forgiveness and the desire to now live as he would have us. This is the repentance that is needed: and it is just as important for us as was for those in John the Baptist's day.
At the same time, in the midst of this Advent season we are reminded of Christ coming: That the time of salvation is near. We too in the near future will be brought face to face with Jesus whether we like it or not. He will be there to usher into eternal glory those believe in him: who know that their salvation and forgiveness is in him: who know that we do not deserve it; but that through Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection he freely gives life and salvation to those who believe in him. His coming almost 2,000 yrs ago is our guarantee: our assurance that it is so for us.
So Christ’s second coming will be to usher those of us who look to him in this way, into eternal glory, and those who ignore and reject him into hell. And so with such importance and dire consequences that there is in this matter, let us heed John's call: let us prepare the way for the Lord to come to us: let us turn back to him and seek earnestly for what he has to offer; for there is forgiveness for those who repent and turn to him for help.
We are baptized into God's family - so we can live anew - to God and each other. There is true communion with God and one another when there is true confession –a willingness to stand by the truths of God's Word: There is freedom when we take up the responsibility entrusted to us by our Lord: There is authority and power there for us, as we submit ourselves to the will of God: and there is life here and in eternity through death – the death of Christ; death to our selfishness, and death to the grasping onto this life at all costs.
It is all there for us in the coming of our Lord and Saviour. So constantly prepare the way for his coming: turn to him for forgiveness, life and salvation: turn to Jesus Christ again and again. , 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation. AMEN.
Pastor Roger Atze
Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish
(1) In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar--when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene-- {2} during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. {3} He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. {4} As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. {5} Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. {6} And all mankind will see God's salvation.'" {7} John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Today's readings remind us of the preparation necessary for God's coming to his people. Here John the Baptist reminds people of the preparation needed for the coming of Christ as their King, and this is a very important aspect that we also need to consider here today. There is preparation that needs to be done in order to receive Christ and the forgiveness of sins and the eternal life that he has for us.
But sadly, like the rest of life, too often we want the benefits that something has to offer – we want the good things offered, without any necessary preparation. We today want forgiveness without repentance; communion without confession; being a part of God's family without living in accord with it; we want freedom and rights without responsibility; we want authority and power without submission and humility; we want life without death.
With that kind of attitude, we then wonder why the harvest is not there - why the Church is more fragmented and in decline: why our own lives lack meaning and purpose; why life doesn't feel quite right. Now in the rest of life, we know that if we don't put the necessary work in beforehand things don't work out as well as they should. The Christmas dinner doesn't just appear on the table, like many of us men often seem to think it does; the ladies put a lot of time in beforehand in order to see that it is the best that it possibly can be. With farming or a business the same thing applies – we can see those who put the work into it, and we can see those who are looking for the easy and quick dollar – the easy way out.
Taking the short cut doesn't work out in the long run. We might think we can get away with it at the time; and many seem to be prospering by doing so, but in the end, they all get found out. Good preparation and a good basis is essential; even in the church - even in our own spiritual lives. In fact there it is even more critical; for there is no forgiveness without repentance; no real communion without confession; no close family bonds within the church if there is no attempt to live as a family should; no freedom without living out our responsibilities; no power and authority without humility and service; no life without death. The one always and only follows and accompanies the other.
There is no easy way out - no way to get to heaven without taking things seriously now. We cannot think that we can go along with the crowd and do what everyone else is doing; idolize what they idolize, and think that it doesn't matter. Thinking that as long as we go to church occasionally and be a reasonably good bloke, then she'll be right -it'll all work out in the end. It doesn't work that way. To do that is to invite disaster.
To short-circuit things spiritual is to lead to despair and destruction. We can't have and do what is right if we are not prepared to play by God's rules. To seek power and glory without obedience, love and humility ends only in tragedy. Just as we are now seeing the results of people who thought they didn't need go to church regularly and that they could play their sport on Sundays, work their farms and businesses, and all the rest; many of those in time have dropped out all together; and even more tragically their children do not even consider or know the Gospel and as a result, are destined for an eternity in Hell. There is no easy way out.
Yes, Jesus did die on the cross so that we can be freely forgiven! Yes, we were baptised and accepted into God family by the grace of God! Yes, Jesus does offer us his body and blood in Holy Communion, for the assurance of forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Yes, we are given the freedom to be the people of God, and we do have authority and power in connection with Jesus Christ. Yes, we are given life in abundance – here and in eternity. It is all there for us, simply because our Lord wants it for us. Through the Good News of Jesus Christ, it is all there for us.
But the message here is that there is preparation that needs be done in our lives in order for it to be ours. There is the need for repentance: A big need for repentance. There are so many coasting through life - following the broad and easy road that leads to destruction; and who think that somehow they will miraculously be transferred at the end of life, from dropping off into Hell and instead be placed at the other end going to heaven. Their lives are turned away from God, coasting along through life; freewheeling down wide and easy road to Hell, without a thought as to where they are going; far less a desire to turn and seek forgiveness, help, and the life that God has to offer, that they fail to see that Christ and eternity is at other end of the road – behind them.
But here in this reading we called on to turn around; now! To see that without God and simply focussed on ourselves and our own wants and desires, we are in trouble: There we are on the road that leads to Hell. We are reminded, that we cannot turn our backs on God and what he has to offer without it being disastrous for us. We need God’s help: we need Christ and his forgiveness, his family relationships; his Communion; his freedom; his life; and we need it now. We need to daily recognise our need for and our dependence on our Lord and Saviour and everything that he has to offer.
And repentance is that daily recognition of, and a turning from, a life that is not what is in accord with God, and a seeking of forgiveness and all the help that God has to give us – and then it is also the desire to live as God would have us live. True repentance is knowing all the while, that it is in Jesus Christ alone, that salvation and the real help we need is ours.
Here we too need to constantly turn away from the desire to live and act as we please and remember that in that way of selfish living we are living out the sin that is within us. We need to turn to God in sorrow for that sin, seeking his forgiveness and the desire to now live as he would have us. This is the repentance that is needed: and it is just as important for us as was for those in John the Baptist's day.
At the same time, in the midst of this Advent season we are reminded of Christ coming: That the time of salvation is near. We too in the near future will be brought face to face with Jesus whether we like it or not. He will be there to usher into eternal glory those believe in him: who know that their salvation and forgiveness is in him: who know that we do not deserve it; but that through Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection he freely gives life and salvation to those who believe in him. His coming almost 2,000 yrs ago is our guarantee: our assurance that it is so for us.
So Christ’s second coming will be to usher those of us who look to him in this way, into eternal glory, and those who ignore and reject him into hell. And so with such importance and dire consequences that there is in this matter, let us heed John's call: let us prepare the way for the Lord to come to us: let us turn back to him and seek earnestly for what he has to offer; for there is forgiveness for those who repent and turn to him for help.
We are baptized into God's family - so we can live anew - to God and each other. There is true communion with God and one another when there is true confession –a willingness to stand by the truths of God's Word: There is freedom when we take up the responsibility entrusted to us by our Lord: There is authority and power there for us, as we submit ourselves to the will of God: and there is life here and in eternity through death – the death of Christ; death to our selfishness, and death to the grasping onto this life at all costs.
It is all there for us in the coming of our Lord and Saviour. So constantly prepare the way for his coming: turn to him for forgiveness, life and salvation: turn to Jesus Christ again and again. , 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation. AMEN.
Pastor Roger Atze
Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish
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