Rev. Roland J. Wells, Jr. - Pastor

The Fourth Sunday of Advent - December 22, 2002

Lessons: Isaiah 40:1-11; Ephesians 2:14-22; John 1:6-27 (Texts printed below.)

"There Came A Man"

Introduction:

We're basing our lessons this year on the Gospel of John. John the Gospel writer begins his Gospel by telling us of another John, John the Baptist. These are two different fellows, but often it's confusing for young Christians. John who wrote the Gospel was Jesus' best friend. He lived to be very old. John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin, and he was killed during Jesus' ministry. John the Baptist was just a few months older than Jesus. Let's look at this man this morning. Jesus says of his cousin John, (Mat. 11:11) "among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist.

Many of you know the story of John the Baptist very well, but we must remember that we have young ones and new ones who maybe aren't as familiar with these characters as we have become. And maybe we can learn a bit more!

I) John

John is one of the major characters of the New Testament. He's mentioned 62 times in the New Testament, all of them in the four Gospels and the Book of Acts. The name 'John' means 'Gift of God.' John is the English version of the Hebrew name 'Yahanatan' or 'Jonathan' as we say in English. "The name 'Nathan' ('Natan') means gift in Hebrew; if we add God's name, YAWEH to it, it becomes 'Gift of YAHWEH' or we'd say 'Gift of God.'

The name John was about as common in Jesus' day as it is now. For example, Peter's father's name was John. John the Baptist was born, against all odds, to elderly parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah who was a priest who served in the Temple. Only Luke tells about John's birth, announced by an angel a few months before Jesus was conceived by Mary. The angel said they should name their son, 'John.' When John's father heard the news from the angel, he wouldn't believe him, so the angel made it impossible for John's father to talk until John was born. On the day John was publicly named, Zechariah wrote down John's name on a table- "His name is John." (Luke 1:63) and Zechariah's speech was restored.

We don't know anything about John's growing up years. He lived a bit of distance away from Jesus growing up, but undoubtably their paths would have crossed at family gatherings. Anything more is a guess.

Then, suddenly, as Jesus' ministry begins, we learn that John had been doing ministry a while earlier. And what a ministry!

John appears, preaching repentance, and living out in the scorching heat of the Jordan/Dead Sea wilderness.

When we went to the Holy Land in '95, we traveled down the Jordan valley. We experienced temperatures as hot as 114 degrees in June! For almost the whole year, that dessert area is among the hardest, hottest places to live in the world. Along the Jordan there are some communities. But John didn't live in a town. He seems to have camped out.

He wore clothes made of rough, scratchy camel-hair, the same thing the Abraham used for his tent, as do the traveling Arabs today. This cloth is not like anything you've ever seen. Burlap is fine and soft compared to it. He wore a leather belt to hold his crude clothes on. And he lived off the land. He ate the easiest source of protein- gathered all over the world- locusts. The Greek word here is clear. Big grasshoppers. Bugs. And he would scrounge around and find wild honey- a difficult, dangerous and painful diet, plus probably a lot of larval bees! That's how he lived. Now let's take a side trip.

If we read the books of the Apocrypha, the books written between the Old and New Testaments, the ones Luther and the Reformers said were fine to read, but not of the same level of authority as the Bible, we can get an idea of the situation John came into. The books of the Maccabees, which tell the stories celebrated at the Jewish feast of Chanukah, we can see a world that hadn't seen a prophet from God in hundreds of years. They were desperate for an authentic word from the LORD. But God had been silent for several hundred years.

There had been no prophet. Then this crazy John comes out of nowhere, prophesying, and proclaiming God's Word of judgement. He wasn't trying to get good publicity. He hadn't read "How to Win Friends and Influence People." When the religious leaders came to check him out, maybe to give him a fair listen, he greeted them with "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee the wrath to come?" (Mat 3:7) Many wonder if he might be the Messiah, but John lays that to rest: Luke 3:15-16 says: The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. [16] John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

During that time, Jesus comes to John, asking to be baptized, so that he can 'fulfill all righteousness.' (Mat 3:15) In other words, so Jesus could be just like every other Christian believer. John seems somewhat perplexed when Jesus comes to be baptized. (Matthew 3:14) But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But John did baptize Jesus: Matthew 3:16-17: As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. [17] And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." After that, John becomes the first to testify of Jesus:

John 1:29-34 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! [30] This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' [31] I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel." 32] Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. [33] I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' [34] I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

From that point on, Jesus' ministry grew very quickly. Some of John's disciples followed Jesus, (John 1:37) including Andrew, who later brought his brother Peter. John was not upset that people were leaving him to follow Jesus. He said, "He must increase, and I must decrease." (John 3:30) Jesus also teaches his disciples that John fulfilled the role of the return of the prophet Elijah, the one who would announce the coming of the Messiah. (Mat 17:12)

When Herod the ruler marries his own brother's wife, John even publicly calls him to repentance. (Mat 14:4) John gets arrested and thrown in jail. While he's in jail, he sends word to Jesus to ask if Jesus is indeed the Messiah. Jesus says let the miracles he's doing answer the question.

Herod wants to kill Jesus, but he's afraid of the people. Herod's evil wife isn't afraid, so when her daughter does a dance that pleases Herod at a party, he promises to give her anything, even half of his kingdom. (Mark 6:23) Her mother prompts her to ask for John's head....on a platter. And so Herod has him killed.

John's name keeps getting mentioned. When Herod hears that Jesus is now doing miracles, superstitious Herod wonders if John has been raised from the dead.. (Mat 14:2) John's disciples must have gone all over the ancient world. 20 or 30 years later, (Acts 19:1) there were still people who had been taught by the disciples of John, who went on to be taught more fully by the Christian apostles. The Book of Revelation speaks of two witnesses who will arise in the end times, and many commentators believe that one of these will be John the Baptist or a person fulfilling the role of John the Baptist, as John fulfilled the role of Elijah.

OK, that's the story. That's about all we know about John the Baptist.

II) So What?

What difference does it make that he lived? Why do we tell his story? What difference does it all make 2,000 years later?

First, he's part of your family story. He was part of the family of God, your older brother of faith. John was a faithful witness who gave his all, arguably the first Christian martyr. He was the first to hear the message God brought to humankind, and he acted. He perfectly fulfilled the purpose God created his life to do. His role, though short, was enough for Jesus to say, (Mat. 11:11) "among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist.

Second, he spoke a message that is as clear and important today as it was in the Jordan valley 2,000 years ago. "Repent. The Kingdom of God is at hand." God's call is as clear to you today as it was to John's audience. He was facing real people. He was perhaps facing mostly well-off, comfortable people, who were able to take the time off, and make the trip out 35 miles into the desert valley. These were the comfortable, the curious and sometimes the genuine. The ones who really came to listen, to repent and to return to the God of Israel experienced the living Faith that had been asleep for so many generations. They were prepared well for the preaching of Jesus.

How about you? Does John the Baptist's call to repentance cut through all the Christmas noise? Can his laser-sharp words still have an impact on your heart, or are you too jaded? When you reflect on his call to repent is it just words? What would it mean to repent? What would it mean for you, today, to repent? To really do a fearless moral inventory, turn from self and entirely open yourself to the scrutiny of God? Most of us would not want to face an IRS audit. What would it be like to face the absolute righteousness of the Living God? John's message is virtually all clean, pure, sharp Law. In it we hear the Holy Spirit's call, away from our self-reliance, our habits, our pride, our self-centeredness and selfishness. We hear a call to turn fully away from all the part-way broken things, the little personal, pet, comfortable, not-all-that-bad sins that have become part of us. One single word thunders through our ears: 'Repent!'

We are now two days from Christmas Eve. All the shopping, cleaning, cooking, cards, etc. are almost done. But how about the spiritual preparation? Are you ready for Christmas to really be a spiritual event, or are you going to settle for Christmas as usual? It's almost been stripped of its power buy layers of junk, like our lives by the same. The only way to experience Christmas, is to hear John's word: "Repent!" Come now. Repent, and believe. Invitation, Amen.

John the Baptist in the New Testament:

Matthew 3:1: 3:13-15: 4:12; 11:2, 4, 7, 11-13, 18;14:2-5, 8,10; 16:14; 17:13; 21:26; 21:32 Mark 1:4, 6, 9, 14; 6:14, 16-20; 6:24-25, 27; 8:28; 11:32

Luke 1:13, 60, 63; 3:2, 7, 11; 3:15-16, 18-20; 7:20, 22, 24, 28-30, 33; 9:7, 9,19; 11:1; 16:16; 20:6

John 1:6, 15, 23, 26, 28-29, 32, 35, 40, 3:23-24, 3:26-27, 4:1, 5:33, 35-36, 10:40-41 Acts 1:5; 13:24-25; 18:25

Advent 4 - December 22, 2002

Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD'S hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD, make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." 6 A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?" "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." 9 You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid, say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!" 10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart, he gently leads those that have young.

Ephesians 2:14-22

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

John 1:6-27

There came a man who was sent from God, his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light, he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" 16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. 19 Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ." 21 They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No." 22 Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'" 24 Now some Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 "I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."