Sermon Tone Analysis
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Good morning, Gateway Chapel!
If we haven’t met before...
We are a church on mission...
Why sing “It is Finished” when the service has barely started?
On Sundays we celebrate that God has done all the work.
Our job, is to sing Amen!
Our weary hearts rejoice that there was no failure this week that could threaten God’s love, no success that could make him love us more.
And so this morning we’re just going to add to that refrain by singing and hearing from God’s word to remind ourselves that God’s done it.
We just get to respond and count on Jesus as the one who can save us.
And so the goal this morning is to embrace more and more that that song we just sang is true.
Prayer
Intro - Prepare the way!
If I think back far enough, I remember when I used to drive my car.
My commute used to be from Sumner to Bellevue 5 days a week, or 300 miles.
I think I might have driven 300 miles in all of 2022.
My commute is still dangerous because I have to move Isabelle’s blankets as I go up the stairs.
Some of you are still road warriors.
I remember back when I was in my car, sometimes you’d see those wide load trucks on the freeway.
You know these?
Someone is transporting a house, or some massive part of machinery, and it’s on the bed of this insanely huge truck, and it’s so wide it almost takes up two lanes.
But what always accompanies this huge truck?
Two trucks, one in front and one behind with flashing lights and a sign that says “Wide Load or Oversized Load.”
And the purpose of those trucks is to alert drivers that “Hey something is here, it’s not normal, and you need to pay attention!”
Those trucks are there to prepare the way for the big oversized load.
This morning we’re in Matthew 3, and we’re introduced to the character of John the Baptist.
John prepares the way for the King.
And as I thought about the picture of John preparing the way, I had the image of those wide load trucks.
John is saying to those around him, “Hey, something is here!
It’s not normal, it’s actually really good news to those who listen, and you need to pay attention!”
John is getting people ready to experience God in a way they didn’t know was possible.
Have you ever wondered, how do I experience more of Jesus in my life?
In Matthew 3, John is preparing the way for the King, and we see three different responses to his message.
And as we read this passage we can ask ourselves, how do we prepare the way for the king in our own lives today?
How do we experience more of Jesus?
Let’s walk through this passage together.
Prayer
We are preaching through Matthew in 2023, and we’ve said before that Matthew is one story, made up in three parts, which make one point and that point is: Jesus is the King.
He’s the Christ, the Messiah, the one God has sent to restore our broken world.
He’s the most important person in the world.
In his book, Jesus through the Centuries, Jaroslav Pelikan writes,
“Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture for almost twenty centuries.”
What other name is sang as he is worshiped, and screamed by people who don’t worship him but stub their toes?
Matthew says, Jesus is the Christ.
And we see that in the structure of the book...
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
And, as we arrive here in Matthew 3, we are introduced to a significant character in Matthew’s story and that is John the Baptist.
Who is John the Baptist?
He’s not Presbyterian, he is THE Baptist.
Bad joke.
Other than Jesus, J the B is possibly the most important character in Matthew.
Possibly the most significant character in all the gospels.
He’s a prophet.
He’s talked about in every gospel.
In Mark, he’s there in verse 2. He’s mentioned 17 times.
In Luke, we learn he’s the miraculous son of Elizabeth and Zechariah, and the cousin of Jesus.
He’s bosom buddies with Jesus because when Jesus in the womb of Mary approaches Elizabeth who is carrying John, John jumps!
He’s in love with Jesus before he’s even born.
In John, he is a significant part of the story, too.
Matthew uses John to prove his point that Jesus is the king in 2 ways.
John legitimizes Jesus’ ministry.
Let’s say you have a favorite restaurant, and it’s everyone’s favorite restaurant.
But your friend says, “I know you love that place, but you gotta check this new one out.
And you say, “There’s no way your place is as legit as mine.”
But the friend says, “Actually the chef who runs your place is the same chef you runs mine.”
It legitimizes the restaurant.
I think it’s the same kind of thing with John.
No one disputed that John the Baptist was a prophet from God.
But Matthew is saying…Jesus and John were a part of the same movement of God, preparing the way for the king and his kingdom.
Jesus and John were ministry twins.
Jesus relates himself to John
Second way...
John is the prophet before the Messiah.
And Jews knew that before the king, the Messiah came, Elijah the prophet would have to come first.
How do we know John is Elijah?
Matthew makes this observation in verse 4 about his clothes.
What did Elijah wear?
High in protein, zinc, and iron, locusts can be pan-fried, deep-fried, or even covered in chocolate, as noted in BBC.
Locusts are said to have a sort of shrimpy, nutty flavor.
They were even renamed "sky prawns" during an Australian swarm, according to Bugsfeed.
- Eating locusts
Here in Matthew 3, we read that John fulfills in Scripture found in Isaiah 40:3
John is a part of the fulfillment of Scripture and God’s promise to come and save his people.
And, as we learn later, like Jesus, John will be murdered for speaking out against evil.
John the Baptist is a mountain of a man…he’s the second most important character in the gospels and yet he says later in the chapter, I’m not even worthy to tie Jesus’ shoes.
Do we think of Jesus the same way?
Do I pray to Jesus and say, “Who am I to even talk with you?
You who know every galaxy by name?”
It also says John is in the wilderness of Judea.
When we hear wilderness, don’t think cool rustic cabin vibes with a hard to book AirBnB.
Think unbearably hot, dry, barren, desert.
Who would want to go there?
There’s nothing happening there.
It’s quiet and lonely and dangerous.
And the wilderness, the void, the wild and waste areas of the world, it’s often where God starts doing a new thing.
Where does Genesis start in creation?
The wild and waste of darkness…passages like Jer 2 and Hos 2 show that the wilderness is undesirable place where God starts preparing the way for a new thing.
What did John preach?
Eugene Peterson in his message translation puts it “Matt 3:2
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