Sermon Tone Analysis

The Arrival – 3

The Forerunner

Introduction

A few years ago, when Michael Jordan celebrated his 50th birthday, numerous articles and shows were devoted to him and his legacy.

Jordan, who is a modern icon, is starting to talk honestly about the struggles he is experiencing.

A hole in his life that he doesn’t know how to fill.

An article from ESPN begins this way...

“A group from Nike comes into the suite, along with a team from the ad agency Wieden + Kennedy.

Around these people, you see most clearly that Jordan is at the center of several overlapping universes, at the top of the billion-dollar Jordan Brand at Nike, of the Bobcats, of his own company, with dozens of employees and contractors on the payroll.

In case anyone in the inner circle forgets who's in charge, they only have to recall the code names given to them by the private security team assigned to overseas trips.

Estee is Venom.

George is Butler.

Yvette is Harmony.

Jordan is called Yahweh -- a Hebrew word for God.”

Jordan is used to being the most important person in every room he enters and, going a step further, in the lives of everyone he meets.

The Gulfstream takes off when he steps onboard.

He has left a friend in Las Vegas who was late, and recently left two security guards behind.

He does what he wants, when he wants.

On a long trip to China in the Nike plane, he woke up just as everyone else was taking an Ambien and settling in to sleep.

Didn't matter.

He turned on the lights and jammed the plane's stereo.

If Michael is up, the unwritten rule goes, everybody is up.

People cater to his every whim, making sure a car is waiting when he lands, smoothing out any inconvenience.

It was down in Florida, where he was spending time with Yvette's Cuban family, that he got a taste of the life he'd traded for the circus of modern celebrity.

They weren't fawning -- her grandparents, who speak little English, aren't basketball fans -- and he sat at a dinner table, with people laughing and eating home-cooked food.

That's what it was like growing up in Wilmington.

"It's gone," he says.

"I can't get it back.

My ego is so big now that I expect certain things.

Back then, you didn't."

The world tells us to make life all about us.

Do what makes us happy.

That if we can just set up a life scenario that will cater to our every whim, ensure there are no potholes to navigate so we can have a smooth journey, then that will be the epitome of success.

What a lie!

Unfortunately, there are a couple problems with this way of life:

(1) Exhausting - to attempt to make myself the center of attention and arrange an easy journey for myself is absolutely exhausting.

Attempting to center myself in every conversation, make everything about me, get my way in all decisions, turn all good things to my credit and avoid all blame just wears us out.

(2) Empty - we think it may fill up that eerie emptiness of life if we can just be the center of the universe.

But, in an ironic twist, being full of ourselves is empty.

Living for self creates a hole.

We feel an emptiness in our lives (for whatever reason it is there) and try to fill it with ourselves and selfish pursuits.

It may feel like it fills the hole, but there is no substance.

What we are really talking about is our ego here.

The inflated sense of self.

We believe that if we can swell our ego then we will be complete.

Ego is like a balloon...seems full but lacks substance.

According to a 2011 study reported in USA Today, "Sex, booze or money just can't compare with the jolt of self-esteem."

Brad Bushman, the lead author study said, "We looked at all the things college students love, and they love self-esteem more."

The researchers used two separate studies of 282 students in Ohio and New York that measured the students' desire for a number of goals: receiving praise, engaging in sex, drinking alcohol, getting a paycheck, eating their favorite food, or seeing their best friend.

The results pointed to one clear desire: university students wanted experiences that would help boost their self-esteem, such as receiving a compliment or getting a good grade.

Why is that true?

Because a quick inflation of our ego makes us feel better.

It seems to fill the hole in us.

But the problem is that it lacks substance.

It simply doesn’t last.

Balloons pop, revealing the emptiness they actually are.

(NIV) -3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

‘vain conceit’ literally translates as ‘empty glory’.

To be full of yourself is to be empty.

So, how do we deal with this issue?

“In humility...” That is the answer to the problem of ego.

Humility.

As we continue looking at the Arrival of Jesus in the Christmas narrative, let’s spend the next few minutes looking at the life of a great biblical figure who epitomized what it means to show humility.

We know him as John the Baptist, the Forerunner of Jesus.

Here is why we are talking about pride and humility regarding John the Baptist…John is a pretty big deal.

--John’s birth was announced to his father by the angel Gabriel.

Miraculous events surround his birth and this great prophecy is given of him.

-13 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah!

God has heard your prayer.

Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord.

He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks.

He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.

16 And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God.

17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah.

He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord.

He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”

--John will serve as the first legitimate prophet after a period of silence lasting 400 years.

No one has been used by God in a prophetic role in that long of time, and John is the first.

That is huge.

--John is the fulfillment of a great OT prophecy.

Notice how Matthew introduces him:

- In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching.

His message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” 3 The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said,

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!

Clear the road for him!’”

--John is courageous, and his ministry is profound:

- 4 John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist.

For food he ate locusts and wild honey.

5 People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them.

“You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed.

“Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?

8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’

That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.

10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees.

Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

--Jesus himself said this of John:

-11 “I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist.

How did John respond to all of this?