Bible Passage: Luke 3:1-6
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: December 5, 2021

Bulletin December 5, 2021

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Are there certain voices you have come to associate with this time of year?  There are voices that have become iconic during this season.  Maybe nothing quite gets you thinking Christmas thoughts like hearing Judy Garland sing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.  Or Elvis Presley singing Blue Christmas.  Or Nat King Cole singing Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.  Or maybe you like to hear what has been called the most famous iconic Christmas song of all time, White Christmas crooned by Bing Crosby.

Judy Garland, Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby – these are timeless voices.  For us Christians, there is another iconic, timeless voice at this time of year.  We do not hear this voice as we walk through busy, bustling malls.  But it is a voice we hear as we bend our ear toward the living Word of our God.  It is the voice of John the Baptist.

The message John preached was the message the people needed to hear as they were awaiting the public advent of the Messiah.  John prepared them with his message of “Prepare” and “Repent.”  Dear friends awaiting the second advent of Jesus, The Voice Still Echoes, “Prepare!”  As we listen to this voice and wait for Jesus to come, we see that (1) the obstacle in the road remains the same, and (2) the preparation remains the same.

Judy Garland’s Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas dates back to 1944.  Elvis’ Blue Christmas to 1957.  Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire to 1961.  And Bing sang White Christmas in 1954.  The voice in our text dates from the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.  In that year John found his voice for in that year the Word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah in the wilderness (v. 2)

John’s voice was the “voice” Isaiah the prophet had foretold.  John was the voice of one calling in the wilderness.  And this voice could be heard proclaiming this message, “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight.”  The Lord was coming to them!  Think of it!  John’s contemporaries were the generation who would have the promised Messiah, the promised Savior walk and talk among them!  After 4,000 years of world history, they were the generation who would be walking on the planet at the same time as the Son of God in flesh!

An arrival so grand calls for grand preparations!  The preparations are described in the text as making straight the paths for the Lord.  That suggests there were impediments and obstacles in the road.  And there were. The people’s sins and iniquities.  That would not be a happy advent of Jesus to come a people who were wallowing in sin like pigs.  That would not be a happy advent for Jesus to come to a people who loved neither God nor man.  That would not be a happy advent for Jesus to come to a people puffed up with pride and self-righteousness who thought they needed no Savior.

Friends, we are awaiting the advent of Jesus, too.  We, too, will want to listen to the voice still echoing, “Prepare!”  The impediments today are the same as when John’s voice echoed in the Judean wilderness.  Sin is still our problem.  It would not be a happy advent of Jesus on the Last Day to find us wallowing in sin.  It would not be a happy advent of Jesus to us if He should come and find us puffed up and swollen with spiritual smugness and self-righteousness.  Now is the day of salvation!  Now is the time for us to hear that voice, “Prepare!”

The preparations John preached are described in terms of roadwork in our text.  Dips and valleys in the road on which the Lord will travel are to be filled in and brought up to grade.  Hills and bumps are to be bulldozed and scraped down.  Sharp twists and turns are to be removed and replaced with straight-a-ways.  Since we know that the Lord Jesus is not really returning to us on a road, but in the clouds of heaven, our text is picture-language for a different kind of preparation.  All of this is picture-language for the spiritual preparation called REPENTANCE.

That is what the Baptist preached to the people.  We are told the Voice preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (v. 3)   John pointed out the sins of the people.  He rammed the bulldozer of God’s holy Law into the mountainous pride and smugness of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  He straightened out the thieving tax collectors and told them not to steal.  He straightened out the soldiers who sometimes abused their power and he told them to stop extorting money from people and accusing people falsely.  He called sin, sin!  And to all who came confessing their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River for the forgiveness of their sins.  And thus he made ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:17)

Advent Christians, the voice still echoes “Prepare!”  And the preparation is still the same.  Repent.  Do that roadwork in your life that needs to be done.  Let the bulldozer of God’s holy Law do its work in your life.   Let that bulldozer run the breadth and width and length of your life.  North, south, east, west.  Up and down.  Back and forth.  Do not close off any roads.  No dark alleys or side streets are off limits.  Let God’s holy Law bull doze every thought, every word, every deed that is even one degree out of phase with God’s holy will.

And then remember, dear ones, repentance does not leave your life a bulldozed, unfinished wasteland.  No project is finished after the bulldozer!  God comes and finishes the work He has begun.  Where his Law tears down, his Gospel builds up.  He builds us up in Christ.  He builds us up with Jesus’ forgiveness and righteousness.  He builds us up in Christ so that we have a clear conscience and are not afraid to think about meeting Jesus when he returns!  In fact, we are even eager for it!  And so we are a people made ready for the Lord!

And repentance takes it to the next step, too.  The Voice of the Baptist also called out to people, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”  That means don’t keep doing those things for which you must repent!  If you use bad language, stop.  If you watch what you should not, stop.  If you gossip and run people down, stop.  If you are arrogant, stop.  If spiritual things have not been the top priority in your life, start.  If you haven’t been very kind to your spouse or child or brother or sister or friend or fellow member of church, start.  Figuring out fruits of repentance is not rocket science.  And know, too, the Holy Spirit dwells within you and helps you in this effort.

This Advent season, you may hear again the voice of Judy Garland, and Elvis Presley, and Nat King Cole, and Bing Crosby, and that is fine and wonderful.  But let’s also hear again that Voice, the heaven-sent voice of the Forerunner, which still echoes and calls us to prepare.  And so let us prepare and live in the readiness that is repentance!

Amen.

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