Straight Paths

Isaiah 40:3–5 NKJV

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; 5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Incredible words, which John the Baptist quoted during his ministry at the Jordan River.

Luke 3:2–6 NKJV

2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

As Christians, we celebrate every Sunday as the resurrection day. At least I hope we do?

But the reality is that every day is a celebration of life for those in Christ. At least I hope it is?

Yet, knowing our humanity and its tendency to digress, we occasionally need a bit of a jolt in our spiritual walk.

Today, on this, the second Sunday before Resurrection day, It is a good time for us as disciples of Jesus, to put some things in order.

In our minds.

In our practice.

John the Baptist was crystal clear in his application of Isaiah’s scripture:

God was about to appear, and the people needed a reset, because God was about to level the playing field!

“Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth;”

He was speaking figuratively here, and I believe strongly that Christians currently are very confused and misinformed as to what their responsibilities are to God and others.

Isn’t that a strange statement for me to make, especially considering the Great Commandment of Matthew, which we are all well familiar with?

Matthew 22:37–40 NKJV

37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

We are having a difficult time with this.

So today, I would like to look at the passage in Isaiah and follow the logic behind it, and see where it leads us.

And so we see that the scripture commands us to make straight paths!

We need some straight paths:

I. Toward Jesus.

A. Our accountability to God.

the command to us is to deny ourselves and pickup our cross daily and follow Him.

To deny oneself the sinful pleasure of this life is par for the course so to speak.

But what of the creature comforts that we many times live for?

And what I mean by that, is we pretty much idolize them.

Denying oneself is putting God’s interests before our own.

Jesus set the example:

Luke 22:42 NKJV

42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

B. Our accountability toward one another.

Again, in the same manner that we are accountable to God personally, we are also to each other, in the body.

Colossians 2:2 NKJV

2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,

Knit hearts are open hearts.

Perhaps this is why the fellowship of believers in the church is so anemic.

we don’t want anyone to know what our heart is really like.

But, if we are to have our hearts knit together, we must be open with each other.

Yet, it is difficult to be open when the immediate reaction from the brethren is always condemnation producing guilt.

Ephesians 4:32 NKJV

32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Open hearts are open lives.

The disciples of Jesus lived openly with one another, as did the early church.

They didn’t keep moving from one local body to another until they found the perfect assembly who thought like they did.

No, rather they lived openly with forgiveness and encouraged each other, and when one was stuck in sin, they came to the rescue, remembering that they were also sinners, only saved by grace.

We need some straight paths:

II. Toward Holiness.

A. Not legalism.

Legalism practices righteousness as substitute for grace.

B. Not Pharisee ism

The natural outcome of legalism, which judges everyone else who doesn’t measure up to our standards.

C. Not asceticism

The unnatural abstinence from the world’s comforts as a means of attaining favor with the Lord.

Philippians 4:11–13 NKJV

11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

You see, Paul expresses that the blessings of God in this world are to be enjoyed.

1 Timothy 4:3 NKJV

3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

D. In a surrendered life.

Now a surrendered life is not me saying, “here I am God, surrendered to whatever you want, just let me know when you need me. In the mean time, I’ll be busy over here”.

No, a surrendered life means me dealing with my own problems and laying them on the alter of repentance and restoration.

It means I will not accept my issues as just personality quirks and further justify them.

It means I will confess them and forsake them!

I will lay my life down on the alter of holiness, which is separation from the world and separation unto God.

My life and everything in it is His now and not some abstract time in the future.

My desires are His and not mine.

We need some straight paths:

III. Toward the Unsaved.

A. To be like Jesus.

Our perception of just what this means does not for the most part line up with the Biblical accounts of Jesus interacting with the unsaved.

When Jesus beckons us to follow Him, He also means for us to emulate Him.

Luke 5:29–32 NKJV

29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Some are saying to themselves right now, “well it’s a good thing there are no tax collectors and sinners around”!

You know what a tax collector and sinner was in first century Palestine?

They were the extortionist, the thieves, the lowlifes of the community, prone to every vile act imaginable.

They were the embodiment of all that was evil and disdained by society, especially the religious!

Let’s put this into context today:

They would be the

criminals

They would be the John Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Ted Bundys of the world

white supremacist,

Nazi fascist.

ANTIFA

Liberals

conservatives

They will also be...

child molesters and pedophiles

alcoholic abusive parents

Rapists

the bum at the corner panhandling to feed his habit.

And even the LGBTQ people

These are people Jesus would be sharing a meal with, and do you know why?

Because who else would love them?

And we are called to be like Him.

B. To not be like the world.

The current polarization of our country is only as strong as our resistance to the ideas different than our own.

We have become a people of intolerance!

And that intolerance exists on both sides of the aisle.

We justify and defend this position because we are right and will not tolerate anyone else telling us differently.

We also, believe that God is on our side, and so He also hates them!

We are called out of darkness into the light of Christ!

1 Peter 2:9 NKJV

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Look at this verse:

notice it says “a royal priesthood”?

Does anyone even have a clue what that means?

The priests were chosen to make intercession for the sins of the people before God.

We have been called to make intercession for people before God.

What business do we have entering the Holy Place of God to accuse people before Him?

Ours, is a mediate position not one of accusation.

There is already one who accuses. Will you follow him?

The choice is clear:

Either we follow Jesus, or we follow the Devil!