Looking for the Light of Peace

Introduction

In our Sunday morning breakfast and Bible study (every Sunday at 9am)…we are reading through the gospel of John. We’ve touched on John the Baptist for the past two Sundays. John is presented as the zealous preacher of God... John has a divine mission to point people to Jesus…and he became very popular among the people.

In fact, he was so popular…religious leaders…perhaps jealous of the attention people were paying to John…tried to get him to stop preaching the way he was, because it threatened…undermined their authority. But John could not be stopped. He would fulfill his mission to prepare the way of the Lord…the way for Jesus to step on the scene.

Today

Today we heard read the gospel of Luke’s introduction to John the baptist.

During Advent…scriptures referring to John the Baptist…are prominent. John was the predecessor…to Jesus. His ministry was one of preparation…calling people to repent and be baptized as they turn back to God. But John wasn’t always subtle in his approach.

John calls the religious leaders who condemned him…a brood of vipers…and warning of the time of the time of coming judgement...Jesus called these same religious leaders... hypocrites…and white washed tombs…why? becasue they burdenoned the people with impossible standards of living right before God.

They taught that if they did not live the law of God in every area of their life…every day…they could not please God. How can anyone find peace with God…under such conditions. That’s why John’s ministry of repentance and preparation was a threat to them…it seemed to indicate…that you can be made right with God…through some other means..

John the baptist’s ministry was a fire blazing through a field…preparing the land for new growth…that would come through Jesus…the son of God…bringing with him grace and peace.

John was on fire…Jesus brought peace. As the apostle Paul would later write, 1 Corinthians 3:7

1 Corinthians 3:7 ESV

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

John’s call was to plant the seed of the coming messiah…to warn people to repent and turn their hearts to God.

_______________ NO PEACE __________________

Christmas time…is the time where we sing about peace on earth and goodwill toward men and women...but for many people there is no peace.

Many people feel sad…or a sense of turmoil…angst…this time of year…there’s a certain restlessness for many people. Whenver we feel restless…we look for…we desire...peace…relief from our distress.

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Made for God

Saint Augustine a church father from the 4th century…wrote in the opening paragraph of his “Confessions”…speaking to God... “You stir (humanity) to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.”

Before we can find peace for our restless hearts in God…our hearts mut be prepared to recieve it. We were made to take pleasure in praising God.

That’s difficult to do, unless you realize what God has done for us.

In our reading this morning…we a quote from Isaiah 40:3-5

Isaiah 40:3–5 (ESV)

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Luke tells us these words were a prophesy of John the Baptist…and no doubt they were.

But they were first…words spoken to God’s people in Exile…driven from Jerusalem to Babylon. In a foriegn land…with foriegn customs and foriegn idols. They thought God had abaondoned them.

Have you ever felt like God has abandoned you? Do you fell that way today?

Don’t fell bad if you have had those feelings…its a normal part of the experience of faith in the one true and living God…while living in this broken world.

Obstacles to peace

The ancient Israelites had many obstacles to feeling peace…namely their oppression under Babylonian rule…their departure from Jerusalem…and the destruction of the Temple and with it the entiretly of the sacrficial system ...

But their main obstacle to peace with God…is the same obstacle humanity has today…our sin.

Humanity’s default setting is to do what we want to do…what we think is right…without a thought toward God. Left to ourselves…you know the paths we choose…crooked paths…selfish paths…isolated paths...

We need to straighten our paths. Or to use the language of Isaiah…via The Message paraphrase...we need someone to “Make the road smooth and straight! Every ditch... filled in, Every bump smoothed out, The detours straightened out, All the ruts paved over.”

In short we need a savior.

The Way of Peace with God

The message of John the Baptist…is a call to repentance. What does it mean to repent? It means to turn around…to turn from our selfish ways…and turn toward God.

This turn around…is both spiritual and practical. It is both moral and ethical...

Grant Osborne observes:

“Repentance in Luke is a major term for salvation, entailing not only a turning from sin to God but also an ethical mandate for living God’s way (3:10–14). The Jews had little awareness of a need to repent. For them baptism was simply spiritual cleansing in a general sense, for they were the covenant people and by national heritage basically right with God. So John’s baptism meant their Judaism was no longer sufficient.”

Grant R. Osborne, Luke: Verse by Verse, ed. Jeffrey Reimer, Elliot Ritzema, and Danielle Thevenaz, Awa Sarah, Osborne New Testament Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018), 89.

Perhaps the greatest sin obstacle to peace with God…is what it says in 1 John 2:16

1 John 2:16 NASB95

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

The pride of life…is incompaitble with God. To have peace with God…we must be humble…we must repent…we must submit to God. We will find peace no other way.

Closing

In Advent we are preparing our hearts in repentance…in humility…to recieve the Lord Jesus. Eagerly looking for his second coming…while remembering why he came to us 2,000 years ago.

According to the scriptures, God came to humanity in Christ, to...

save sinners

love for the world

to seek and save the lost

to do the will of God the Father

to bring light and abundant life to all who believe in him.

Jesus came…and is physically coming again…to bring us peace.

Let go of your pride…repent and believe…and may God grant you peace.

Thanks be to God…Amen.