“Is His Message - Our Message?

”
December 06, 2009

Malachi 3:1-4 Philippians 1:3-11 Luke 1:68-79, 3:1-6

Responsive Reading - Zechariah’s song (Luke 1:68-79)

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His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
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"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come and has redeemed his people.
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He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
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(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
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salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
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to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
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the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
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to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
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in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
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And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
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to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
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because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
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to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace."

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This morning we celebrate the second Sunday of Advent. We lit the Shepherd’s candle, the candle of Christ
the Way and this morning we read Zechariah’s song (from Luke 1:68-79) together. For those of us who may
not remember the story of Zechariah, he was the father of John the Baptist. God came to Zechariah in a vision
and told him that he would have a son even though he and his wife were well past the age that people normally
have children. Because of his age (and his wife’s age) Zechariah doubted the truthfulness of the angel in the
vision and as a result of his doubt was unable to speak until the birth of his child. When his voice is returned to
him, Zechariah sings a song of praise, he cries out in public worship before God, and Luke records his song in
the words we read together.

For nine months Zechariah’s voice (or lack of it) was getting in his way of expressing his joy and his praise
before his God. During that time he had to find other ways to express himself until the barrier to his speech was
removed. How often do we face barriers of some kind? Probably always. The news is full of all sorts of
discussion about barriers and obstacles, people think that Oprah’s ego is getting in the way, or that Hillary
Clinton’s pride is getting in the way, we know that for many state and local governments, financial troubles are
getting in the way, and whether we are talking about our career plans or our education, or just taking vacation
photos, someone is always complaining about something, or someone, getting in the way.

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Here we are with only two weeks to go before Christmas and already we see people in church that we haven’t
seen for a while. Don’t get me wrong, we’re glad to see you, but this is the time when most of us begin to ask
ourselves, “Where did the year go?” If you ask yourself that, and you find that you weren’t in church as much
as you had hoped, then what got in the way? For many of us, our schedules and our calendars are full. We
organize every hour of every day in fifteen-minute intervals. If you have kids there are piano lessons, and
dance, and baton lessons, and riding lessons and school activities. As adults we have work, and more work, and
hobbies, and clubs and who knows what else. Don’t forget all the time we spend sending email, reading our
friends blog posts, and checking Facebook, and Twitter, and MySpace and a whole host of online stuff.

And then comes the weekend when we try to cram in everything that didn’t fit during the other five days.

I hope you can see the problem. By the time Sunday rolls around we are so overbooked that we just can’t find
the time to go to church or we’re so worn out from doing everything else that we’re too exhausted to move.

We could do a whole series on setting priorities, but I want to shift our perspective a little bit. In Malachi 3:1-
4, God resets the focus of the people and points toward the future…
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"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking
will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty.
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But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's
fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine
them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the
offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.

God says that into a world that was full of obstacles, he was sending a messenger who would prepare the way, a
messenger who would tear down the obstacles that separated the people from their God. God says that the
messenger will be like a refiners fire and burn away all that is impure, even the priests would have their
impurities exposed and removed. The messenger would make a way so that the people could worship God.

We live in an amazing time but with all of our modern conveniences we are tempted to do more than ever
simply because we are able to do more than ever. In a world that seems to be filled with things to do and
therefore filled with things that could become obstacles to God’s people, what is our role? Are we the people
who create obstacles? Or are we the people who struggle to get around the obstacles? Or are we the
messengers who have been sent to remove obstacles from the paths of others?

In Philippians 1:3-11, Paul writes from prison to the church in Philippi…

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Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
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Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because
of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good
work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
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It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or
defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. 8God can testify how I long for
all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

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And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that
you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the
fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Last week we heard Paul pray that the people in Thessalonica would love each other more, and love others,
more, but here Paul prays that the love of the people would grow in knowledge and that their love would grow
in its depth of insight. If we aspire to grow as Paul prayed that the church would, then we understand that our
love cannot grow in knowledge without study and our love cannot grow in insight unless we spend time in
prayer and introspection. If we are to spend the time required to grow in love, then we will necessarily have to
clear away some of the obstacles that are in our path, we will have to clear away some of the obstacles that
consume our time.

At the conclusion of Zechariah’s song of rejoicing, we also hear these words regarding his newborn son John…
(Luke 1:80)

And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.

And then in Luke 3:1-6 we find John again…

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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—
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during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the
desert. 3He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness
of sins. 4As 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.
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Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
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And all mankind will see God's salvation.' "

John was a messenger, sent by God, to prepare a way for the messenger that was still to come. John was sent to
prepare the people, to clear away the obstacles so that the people would be ready to hear the message that was
coming.

Clearly, we need to deal with whatever obstacles we find between ourselves and God but we already know that
we will make time for the things that we find to be important. To deal with many of our obstacles, we must
recognize that all of our busyness and all of our “stuff,” as fun as it might be, and as important as it may seem,
all of these things are taking us away from our relationship with God. Either God is the most important part of
our life, or he’s not. There is no middle ground.

Not only do we need to deal with our own obstacles, but if we are called to the same mission that was given to
John the Baptist then we are called to clear away the obstacles that prevent others from hearing the Good News
of Jesus Christ. In Luke 2 we hear these familiar words…
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When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to
Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

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So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had
seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it
were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

Even though shepherds were despised and rejected from much of society, the message that they carried was so
important that they overcame their personal obstacles and were unafraid to tell the world what they had seen
and heard. Zechariah was unable to speak but found ways to communicate the good news he had been given.
Paul, locked in prison, does not let that obstacle prevent him from preaching and teaching and praying. God
witnessed the obstacles that human beings faced, and chose to send his only son, Jesus, to clear away the
obstacles that stood between humanity and heaven.

And so we ask ourselves,

Is His message, our message?

If his message is our message then we must do whatever it takes to remove the obstacles that keep us from
being the people God intends for us to be.

If his message is our message then we must help to remove the obstacles of others so that all people can hear
the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We are called to be messengers. We are called to be agents of change. We are called to be the people who
clear away the obstacles that stand between God and his people. What is it that gets in our way and what is it
that prevents people from hearing the Good News of Christmas? Is it our busy schedules? Is it our finances?
Does Facebook, or MySpace, or other online stuff keep us, or keep others, from hearing the Good News? Are
we prevented from sharing the gospel because of racial prejudice, or poverty? If so then we must do what we
can to tear down the barriers of race and poverty.

If God’s message is our message, then we will carry on the mission of John the Baptist. We must prepare the
people; we must clear away the obstacles, whatever they are, so that the people will be ready to hear the
message, the Good News of Jesus Christ.

After, all, that is the message of Christmas.

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You have been reading a message presented at Johnsville Grace and Steam Corners United Methodist Churches on the date
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All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.