Things are concluding—a
culmination. I am not talking the end of
the age, though that is part of it. All
of history is coming to a point where the creation will be reconciled to God
and able to fully live as he designed us to live.
Everyone will kneel—I believe as an
involuntary response to the truth. Paul
supports this by attaching the words that it will be to the glory of God when
he espouses this action on our part.
I believe that the truth will not only
set us free, but once we are free, we will kneel before Jesus. In light of the truth, how could we do
anything else.
What truth? That Jesus is Lord.
Lord or king or master or other
similar such words are not popular these days, especially in a culture
dominated by the satisfaction and gratification of the self. In an all
about me world, nobody wants to hear about the King of kings or Lord of
lords.
The truth tells us that is exactly who
Jesus is. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords and Master and Prophet and Priest and Teacher—one with an easy yoke
from whom we may learn, and he is Friend.
But this culmination is not here
yet. This complete reconciliation was
accomplished on the cross but not fully realized throughout the universe,
yet. Some things must happen before
everything comes together perfectly.
We know enough of our history with God
to know that he has been at work in us.
This is not just general maintenance, but craftsmanship. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. He is crafting us into the exact people he
wants us to be. The creation is being
shaped into the exact domain that God wants us to live in forever.
We look at Adam and Eve getting the
boot from the Garden of Eden, and wonder, could it get any worse? Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the first
murder. Things got so bad in humanity’s
early history that God sent a flood and started over with a remnant.
That cleaned up everything and made
everyone one right with God for the rest of time. Well, not really. People got this all about me thing going early.
Actually, it might have been all
about us. In any case, humankind
decided to build a tower to heaven instead of going out to subdue and exercise
stewardship of the planet entrusted to them.
Had there been no Tower of Babel and
confusion of human language, I would have never been required to take German in
college; and surely would not have had to take it twice.
Liberation and captivity, commandments
an sin, restoration and desolation have all had their turn in this
craftsmanship. God has taken our human
weakness, much like a marred pot, and remade his people into what he wants us
to be.
But, we have not fully realized
everything in store for us. Some things
must come first. Jesus, who was there at
the creation and through whom all things were made would wait for a forerunner
before entering this world as a babe in a manger.
Someone would precede him to prepare
the way. This forerunner would not
direct road repairs or bridge construction or a beautification project along
the royal route as would be done for an earthly king. He would not make sure all the graffiti was
painted over so as not to offend the sovereign.
This forerunner that we know as John
would prepare a route for his King and yours into our hearts. His message was one of repentance. He told people that they must repent for
their sins to be forgiven. He told
people that One was coming so much greater than he was that he was not even
worthy to tie his shoes.
And John was a little different. It was not your run of the mill religious
guy. Think about the age into which John
came.
The religious leaders—the Scribes and
Pharisees—wore fine clothes. They were
adorned with phylacteries. They ate at
the finest tables. They loved the finer
things in life and were never far from them.
They knew the law. They knew what sacrifice was required for
what offense. They would have never
stood for words such as the previous call
is under further review. The were
the sole custodian of the yellow penalty flags.
John did not wear fine clothing. In fact, when I think about what John wore,
my skin itches 2000 years later. I don’t think there has ever been a more
distinct fashioned statement than camel hair.
John never had to worry that if he went to a social event, somebody
would show up in the same outfit.
He didn’t wear a phylactery on his
forehead. He wore a leather belt around
his waist.
John did not eat the finest food as
the Pharisees did. He ate locusts and
wild honey. I like wild honey and I have
eaten a few dozen grasshoppers in my day; but all things considered, I would
rather do the Atkins or South Beach diet.
John was anything but someone who fit
the religious model of the day; yet, people came from all over to see him. People came from all over to hear him. People came from all around and were baptized
by him.
But John said, I’m not the big deal here. I
am just getting you ready for the One that everyone has been waiting on to
arrive. Well, he is on his way.
People somehow knew that John had
something to say to them that they needed to hear. He was not about penalties and payments as
the Pharisees were. He was not about
putting on a good show. He did not seek
the best seat in the house.
His ministry took place in the
wilderness near the Jordan river. He
wore clothing that nobody would want to wear and was on a special diet; yet
people came to him.
Was it his clothing or his diet? They
were surely unique.
There is an engraved sculpture of Will
Rogers in Granite, Oklahoma. I go
through Granite about a dozen times each year.
I stop in and look at the sculpture about once a decade.
There is the Stafford Space museum
near Weatherford, Oklahoma. I have been
to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum at least 20 times but have never been
to the space museum that is just half an hour away and that I drive by at least
40 times a year.
Both are unique, but I am not
compelled to go just a little bit out of my way to see them.
John was a long way off the beaten
path and people flocked to him. Was it
his clothing? Probably not. Was it his special diet? I don’t think so.
Something was happening and somehow
the people knew it. Something big was
about to happen on this world stage and John was the opening act. Jesus had come into the world and now was the
time for his ministry to begin.
He would be God with us.
He would be the Anointed One.
He would be the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the World.
He would be Teacher, Messiah, Healer,
Prophet, and the only one ever to live a sinless life; yet he would become sin
for us.
He would bear the sin of the world
upon a cross and with a few words, It is
finished, seal the deal forever.
Paul
wrote: But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son,
born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption as sons.
The time had come to that point. John announced the coming of that time in his
call for repentance and in the baptism that followed. It was time for God to take away the sin of
the world.
John baptized with water but the One
for whom he prepared the way would leave us with the Holy Spirit when his work
was done.
But somehow, people knew to come to
John. People came out of their world of
religious regulation and began a course that would lead to liberation.
John fulfilled a role in the greatest
story ever told. His role would lessen
once Jesus entered fully into his earthly ministry, but John’s role was
essential. He was the wakeup call to a
generation full of God’s laws and void of the Spirit that should have come with
them.
He was a voice that cried in the
wilderness. That wilderness was a
geographical reference for sure, but he also called out in the wilderness that
was the human heart. John cried out to a
world full of regulation but void of spirit.
John was the messenger that went ahead
of the Messiah. John was singing the
verse in Joy to the World that goes, let every heart prepare him room.
John was an essential part of this
story of reconciliation. We like the part
about the babe in a manger, but a few months earlier, there was a babe born to
an old couple that were thought not to be able to have kids. John was to prepare the way.
We have heard this part of the story
many times. Mark begins his gospel with
it. The other synoptics take a couple
chapters to get there, but John was essential to prepare the way for the coming
of the Lord.
Let’s turn the clock forward to
2018. The New Year is upon us. We will celebrate the birth of our Savior and
begin a new year. We will look forward
to the coming of our Lord as the King of kings and Lord of lords. We know that time is closer than it was in
2017.
But what are we doing to prepare the
way for this coming of our Lord?
John came in a time when the religious
world was riddled with regulation. We
live in a time when the body of Christ is drugged and disconnected.
Some are faithful and hold fast to
discipleship but so many need a wakeup call.
So many are content to merely exist
and are not living for Christ.
So many have taken to the sidelines of
discipleship.
So many offer advisory opinions and
are void of service.
So many want transactions instead of
transformations.
So many want to blend into the world
so they don’t have to be identified with Christ.
So many want to love the world and
everything in it.
So many are conformed to the patterns
of the world and don’t want the discomfort of changing.
Who can do anything about this? Who?
Listen to the prophet Malachi as the
faithful few converse among themselves as God listens.
You have said, ‘It's useless to serve God.
What's the use of doing what he says or of trying to show the Lord Almighty
that we are sorry for what we have done?
As we see it, proud people are the ones who are happy. Evil people not
only prosper, but they test God's patience with their evil deeds and get away
with it.’”
Then the people who feared the Lord spoke to
one another, and the Lord listened and heard what they said. In his presence,
there was written down in a book a record of those who feared the Lord and
respected him. “They will be my people,”
says the Lord Almighty. “On the day when I act, they will be my very own. I
will be merciful to them as parents are merciful to the children who serve
them. Once again my people will see the
difference between what happens to the righteous and to the wicked, to the
person who serves me and the one who does not.”
Who can do anything about the casual
Christian or the half-drugged disciple?
God can, but we who fear the Lord and faithfully serve him must give a
wakeup call.
Someone—we—must be preparing the way
for Christ to come again. We are his
commissioned and yet most of those who should be ambassadors for Christ and
letters from Christ have nestled themselves back into the comfort zone of the
world.
How can we reach the lost if the body
of Christ is doped up and out of the discipleship game?
Like it or not, we must be more like
John the Baptist. I am not buying a
camel hair sports jacket for 2018 or changing the Wednesday night meal to
locusts and honey, but I challenge us to be a voice in this modern wilderness
and go on a special diet.
John was not calling out to the pagans
of his age. His voice went out to God’s
people. John had to wake up his own
people. The Anointed One was on his way.
We must give a wakeup call to those
who have professed Jesus as Lord and Savior; yet, have been narcotized by the
numbness of the world.
And we need a special diet.
Some of you know that some people were
upset with me over some Facebook posts about the church not being the vending
machine. This has been a consistent
message of mine for over 4 years, but this year it got some people angry and
they defended the vending machine.
I won’t go into the business of the
transactional church versus the transformational church right now, but I want
to share something that was overwhelming as I read some of the comments.
People are not reading their
Bibles. They get a little on Sunday
morning a couple times a month or a year or a decade.
They get the verse of the day.
They get a whole lot of unholy
horsehockey that someone has posted as biblical.
People are not reading their Bibles!
We who are faithful must go on a
special diet. We must hunger for and
consume the word of God as never before.
The word of God must be tastier to us than the most succulent ribeye
steak. It must be more delicious than
bacon. That’s a hard sell in some parts,
but we must have a special diet.
It is the word of God. We need to proclaim to those Christians who
are stumbling around in the wilderness of this world what God’s words says.
I don’t think that we all need to be
biblical scholars. We don’t lock
ourselves in ivory towers with our nose in the Bible but never putting anything
we learn into practice.
I think that we all need to rightly divide the word of God. To me that’s a tradesman. He or she can navigate life with the word of
God as well as the mechanic replaces the transmission, or the doctor removes
the appendix.
The mechanic does not have to be able
to design next year’s car of the year, but he better be able to diagnose and
repair more than a burned-out headlight or worn out windshield wipers.
We must know enough to live a holy
life in response to the love of God that was poured out in the blood of Jesus
on the cross.
Must we all be able to illustrate the
four most recognizable metaphors of the atonement? Likely not!
Understanding that the blood of Jesus atoned for our sins is probably
sufficient for most of us.
We need to read our Bibles more, not
so we can strain out gnats of biblical minutia, but so that we don’t swallow
any camels, which today would be the transactional nature of the church. Today that would be the feeling that it’s
just fine to sit out this discipleship stuff.
Today, that would be remaining conformed to the pattern of the world.
Jesus is coming. I don’t have the date but the Bible says soon.
And the Christ professing world has gone to sleep or is drugged by the
narcotizing effects of this post-modern world.
Be today’s voice in the
wilderness. Be the wakeup call to the
deadheaded disciples who are just sitting out their salvation.
Be the voice that awakens the body of
Christ. We live in a time so like that
of the prophet Malachi. Few were faithful,
but God remembers those who were.
This morning I call out to the
faithful. Wake up the sleepers. Sober up the disciples drugged on the
patterns of this world. Be a voice in
this modern wilderness that calls people home.
And... Stick to your diet.
It is a diet that equips you wake the saints
and seek the lost.
It is a diet that enables you to
rightly divide the world of God.
It is a diet that judges the thoughts
and attitudes of the heart.
It is a diet—a special diet—that fill
us when we do the work of the One who sent us into the world.
It is a diet that is a lamp unto our
feet and a light unto our path.
It is a diet that is God-breathed.
It is a diet useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.
It is a diet that proceeds from the
mouth of God—better than bread alone.
It is a diet that equips us for every
good work.
Let’s be the voice of our time that
cries out to turn away from the world and back to God.
Let’s stick to our diet.
Amen.
